Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I wish to express again my sincere sympathies and condolences and those of the Government following the tragic air accident which claimed the lives of the President of the Republic of Poland, His Excellency Lech Kaczynski , his wife, Maria Kaczynska, and 94 others at Smolensk in Russia on 10 April.

The untimely death of President Kaczynski came as a great shock to me. He paid a state visit to Ireland in February 2007 and although I did not meet him on that occasion I got to know him at meetings of the European Council which he often attended, alongside the Polish Prime Minister. He made a major contribution to Polish public life as president, as minister for justice and as a great Solidarity personality in the 1980s and 1990s. He was forthright in his views, a trait that stood him well in the many important political positions he held over the years. That his wife, Maria, perished in the same accident makes the tragedy all the more horrific for their family and especially for their daughter Marta.

The devastating scale of the accident, with so many victims drawn from all walks of public life in Poland, is difficult to comprehend. Leading figures from the Polish Government and Parliament, the military, the church, the public service and civic society were killed in the tragedy, which will have left an indelible mark on Poland and her people. The tragedy is all the more poignant for the circumstances in which it happened. The ill-fated aircraft was completing a journey to Smolensk in Russia, where the Polish President and his travelling party were due to attend a ceremony to commemorate the terrible massacre of thousands of Polish soldiers and civilians in Katyn forest in 1940. What was to have been an important symbolic moment of reconciliation between Poland and Russia of a horrible episode in history became instead its own tragic and horrible event.

The tragedy has touched the hearts of the people of Ireland in a way that brings out just how deep the bonds between the Irish and Polish people have become. Our friendship goes back a long way but it is in more recent years that it has become fully cemented, particularly since Poland joined the European Union in 2004 during the Irish Presidency. In the short period since, many tens of thousands of Polish people have come to Ireland, where they now live, work and participate in society. It is almost impossible to fathom the grief felt by so many but we have tried, for our own part, to show our sympathies for, and solidarity with, the Polish people at this sad time.

When I learned of the tragedy I spoke with the Polish Ambassador to Ireland and sent a letter of condolence to my counterpart, Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister. President McAleese and I participated in commemorative masses for the Polish community in Ireland last week. I also visited the Polish embassy to sign the book of condolences there. On the day of President Kaczynski's funeral, flags flew at half mast over State buildings in Ireland as a mark of respect and out of solidarity with the Polish people living in Ireland. President McAleese was due to represent Ireland at the funeral but, unfortunately, like so many others, was unable to attend as a result of the restrictions on air travel over the weekend.

In conclusion, I once again offer my condolences to the Polish Government and the Polish people at this sad time. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been bereaved and more generally with the Polish people everywhere, including the many thousands who live among us in Ireland today.

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