Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

A Cheann Comhairle, it was with great sadness that I learned this morning of the death of Dr. Garret FitzGerald, and on behalf of the Labour Party, I join the Taoiseach in expressing our sympathies to John, Mark, Mary and their families.

In the many tributes that will be paid today will be listed the offices of State held by Dr. Garret FitzGerald in a long and distinguished career. He was Senator, Deputy, Minister, Chancellor of the National University of Ireland and twice holder of the office of Taoiseach. Yet, even this list does not do justice to what Dr. FitzGerald became; quite simply, a shining model of citizenship, of service to the nation, of devotion to the ideals of the Republic and to the foundations on which it stands.

Over many decades and in many roles, he relished the role described by his pseudonym used during his first connection with The Irish Times, "Analyst". He was a man driven to understand, to confront problems with evidence, to weigh facts and to reach conclusions. His association with The Irish Times lasted from the 1940s to the present day.

His facility with numbers was legendary. His interests were incredibly broad; from the pattern of the use of the Irish language in 19th century Ireland to the minute detail of election results and local authority elections in the present decade, to the intricacies of public finance. He brought to all these problems the same clarity of thought and the same probing intelligence. However, analysis was never enough. His enormous sense of duty, of service to the Republic, compelled him to turn analysis into action. He sought and was elected to public office, to turn ideas into policy and policy into action.

The problems of economics were only one of his many concerns. From his earliest days in public life, he was determined to address the then festering sore that was Anglo-Irish relations and the deeply troubled relationship between the two traditions on this island. From his book Towards a New Ireland to his role in negotiating the Anglo-Irish Agreement, he showed unequalled qualities of foresight and statesmanship. At the historic gathering last night in Dublin Castle when the Heads of State of these two islands met in friendship and unity, his absence was palpable for it was he more than any other who was the intellectual and political father on the road we have travelled together.

Among his many roles, Dr. FitzGerald was an outstanding Minister for Foreign Affairs. During his time in that office he helped to define the scope and nature of Ireland's engagement with the European Union. He was an architect of our national commitment to exercise national sovereignty in a meaningful way by pooling it with other member states. He was, quite obviously, in his element having been a committed member of the Irish European Movement from its foundation.

As leader of the Labour Party, I too am conscious of the strong relationship that members of my party had with him when he led two coalition Governments, which, though faced with deep economic difficulties, were radical and transformative. Dr. Garret FitzGerald in the eyes of the nation stood for integrity, for service and for a liberal and tolerant Ireland, for reconciliation between the two traditions on the island.

On this day, too, it is right to remember with fondness his wife Joan, to whom he was so clearly devoted and who enjoyed the affectionate regard of the Irish people. The public man was a devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather and however great our loss, we must think of the loss to his family. A great citizen of our Republic is lost to us. A flame is dimmed, but the example that he offered us, the ideals by which he lived, continue to serve us today.

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