Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I agree with what has been said by the different party leaders in their historical assessment of Tomás Mac Giolla and will not enter on that subject, about which much has been said this afternoon. I cannot add to what has been said by the party leaders although I am sure historians will add to it. I am sure Tomás Mac Giolla will be found to be what we have always known him to be, namely, a man of peace.

I speak as one of two Members of this House who contested an election with Tomás Mac Giolla. I believe Deputy Burton also contested an election with him. Tomás Mac Giolla made his mark on Dublin Corporation as a representative of the people of Ballyfermot who have had many notable tribunes in this House and in the city council down through the years, of which Tomás Mac Giolla was certainly one of the greatest. He first came to Dáil prominence following a large vote in the famous 1982 Dublin West by-election. He consolidated his position by winning a Dáil seat in the general election which took place in November of that year. He held his seat in successive elections in 1987 and 1989 up until 1992. He then contested a by-election in 1996 at which time I was elected and following which in a subsequent election in 1997 I was again elected.

All of that aside, I found Tomás Mac Giolla to have two outstanding qualities. I knew him well prior to my election as part of the political scene in Dublin West and as a candidate and a person who attended public meetings. His parliamentary failures in later years were in no way a reflection on his devotion to duty as a constituency representative. We in this House are often accused of an excess of clientalism and of being too like the old fashioned French parish priest who is too close to his parish. Tomás Mac Giolla could never have been condemned to have failed in that regard. He was assiduous in his attention to constituency duties, both in terms of attending public meetings and in assisting people with the real problems they faced in the very difficult economic climate of the 1980s and early 1990s. From his initial base in Ballyfermot he extended into what was then a far younger council estate in the north Clondalkin area and into Mulhuddart and wider middle class areas. He established a fine vote in that constituency, although he was not helped, as is often the case for many Dublin Deputies, by successive revisions of the constituency in later years.

Tomás Mac Giolla brought a great devotion to his work as a Deputy. Side by side with all that has been well said about Tomás Mac Giolla in terms of his national contribution, I would like to put on record his strong local contribution in terms of his fight for schools, playing facilities, justice for taxpayers and welfare recipients and many other causes apart from the national causes to which he was obviously and sincerely committed. Were I to pick out one other quality that distinguished Tomás Mac Giolla, it was that of intense sincerity and belief in politics as a vocation and a method of improving the lot of all of the people. He certainly had that strong conviction. His integrity was transparent to anyone who had dealings with him in public life.

I am glad he had a good life. I extend to his wife, May, and to his family and friends, on my behalf and on behalf of the Fianna Fáil organisation in the Dublin West constituency, our appreciation for all he did for the area down through the years. Go raibh maith agaibh.

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