Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I want to express my sympathy to the Taoiseach - the late Senator Kieran Phelan was a personal friend of his - and to the party on this tragic circumstance that happened this morning. I only heard the news before I came down to the Chamber. It is a shock when something like this happens.

I did not know Kieran that well, but I met him in the corridors and around the House here. What can I say except that I express my sympathy to his wife Mary and his children? He was the chairman of Laois County Council, he was very well respected and regarded in the agricultural community and he represented the people of south Laois very ably and competently. This is truly an enormous shock to his wife Mary and to his family, and indeed, to the Members and his colleagues, both in the Fianna Fáil Party and in the Seanad, and to politics in general.

One can never be certain of what the future holds and that news, given to me this morning at 10.20 a.m., was, indeed, a shock. I regret his passing. I want to express my personal sympathy to the Taoiseach, as a friend of Kieran's, and to his family on behalf of the Fine Gael Party.

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