Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

On behalf of the Technical Group I wish to join in the sympathy expressed by all parties to the family of Dr. Garret FitzGerald, especially to John, Mark and Mary. I should state the first day I was in the Seanad, Dr. Garret FitzGerald was Taoiseach and he brought his constitutional crusade to the Seanad on that day. That was the initial move in a crusade the culmination of which we saw last night in Dublin Castle and which we have been seeing all week. Dr. Garret Fitzgerald above anybody else initiated the movement for tolerance, an end to sectarianism, non-violence, equality and respect for minorities, North and South in this country. He started that procedure in 1981 and he lighted a fire which, with various setbacks, has climaxed this week. In that sense we should be very proud of him as a Taoiseach who is responsible for what happened in recent days.

Constitutional changes followed, some controversial, but they had the common ingredient that they challenged the dominance of great institutions in this country which needed to be challenged. He tackled those taboos which for so long had been the curse of Ireland and he is responsible for that.

On economic policy, perhaps he was not quite so successful but he was above all a conviction politician. At a time of great cynicism in Irish politics, Dr. Garret FitzGerald followed his convictions, often to his own cost. His first Government fell on a political conviction on which many would have given way but he did not, to his cost. He was prepared at one stage, and the Fine Gael Party will be conscious of this, to take a hit in his constituency where he almost lost his seat in his effort to deliver two seats to the party. Thankfully, he did not lose his seat but he was prepared to make that sacrifice and take that risk, a risk which many other politicians for obvious reasons would not be prepared to take.

Above all, as the Taoiseach, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Adams have mentioned, he must be remembered for his contribution to Anglo-Irish relations. The Anglo-Irish Agreement, while controversial in its time was a great achievement in his own terms. His contribution to Anglo-Irish relations was not without setbacks. We heard this morning on the radio once again that very famous outburst from the then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, when she said "out, out, out". That was a major setback for his crusade for Anglo-Irish relations, but he took triumph and disaster fairly comfortably and treated those two imposters just the same.

He was, above all, a person who was not subject to knee-jerk reaction to political events and he was a human being who was not entranced or enchanted by the trappings of office. I think it was Conor Cruise O'Brien, who was a friend and opponent of his in many political spats, who wrote of him that Dr. Garret FitzGerald was as nice a person as you can find in politics but no nicer. What he meant by that was that he was a real human being, which is difficult to be in political terms, but he also had around him a ring of steel and he was prepared to take tough political decisions which were not in his own interest.

The general consensus in the House and the message which is going out today is that Dr. Garret FitzGerald was above all a human being, an intellectual but with a hugely important human side. There are many anecdotal stories of his devotion to his invalid wife, of him going home and cooking her lunch. There are many stories about his own idiosyncrasies, and the one about him wearing odd shoes is one which will live for a long time in the minds of many people who hold him in such great affection.

The manner of his departure and its timing this week is something about which he and many of us can be in a strange way very content because he must have been, if he was aware of it, very happy to see that this week, the mission which he embarked upon so courageously in 1981 was almost completed.

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