Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a ghabháil ar son Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre do mhuintir agus do chlann Brian Lenihan. On behalf of the Labour Party, I offer my sincere condolences to Brian's family: his wife, Patricia; his children, Tom and Clare; his mother, Mrs. Ann Lenihan; his brothers, Conor, Niall and Paul; his sister, Anita; and his indefatigable aunt, Mary O'Rourke, a former colleague of ours and a very good friend to every woman who has had the honour of being a Member of this House.

I first met Brian during the presidential election campaign of 1990, when he was one of the principal campaigners and strategists for his late father, Brian. That was a hard campaign for the Lenihans. Many different things happened as they do in different campaigns. Politics is not all about the glory days; there are many hard and difficult times in politics for most people. Although in many ways Brian Lenihan, coming as he did from such a distinguished lineage in politics, was, if one likes, a political aristocrat, political battles had to be hard fought and hard won by the Lenihans as they are by everybody in this House.

Yesterday, I was as happy as one could be in such a sad situation that the sun was shining on St. Mochta's church in Porterstown. When I first represented Dublin West, that constituency was represented not just by the Lenihans, but also by the Lawlors. That particular road and lane and the fields leading down to the Liffey were the subject of many pitched political battles on rezoning and development. For those who had fought to keep some green fields in Dublin West in the context of a population of 92,000, nature collaborated in a way that on the evening of the removal a swallow was high up in the roof of the church. I know there are some myths that sometimes when a person's soul is passing, one sees something like a bird and it expresses the soul of the person going away to another space and into another realm. It was nice that the service, which was so intimate and personal to Brian, the Lenihan family and to all that he loved and cherished, was attended by so many people not just from the community of Dublin west and his own family and friends, but also by people from throughout Ireland.

The Dublin West issues are in many ways the issues of the development of modern Ireland in the past two or three decades - schools, the hospital, public transport, community development and infrastructure. I am happy to say that although Brian was very competitive in politics - I am certainly a competitive person - we were happy to co-operate as do most Members of this House at a local level on behalf of the interests of their constituents, of the families and the children who make a home and a community in an area such as Dublin West, which grew over 30 years from approximately five small villages into a population of 92,000, which makes it bigger than the cities of Limerick, Waterford or Galway.

Brian was a consummate lawyer and had the lawyer's great ability to read and master a brief. He was enormously wrapped up in the law, and he loved the law. Many lawyers were present yesterday and the very fine words of Paul Gallagher summed up the respect his fellow lawyers had for him.

He was happiest in ministerial service in the period after he became Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It was a personal joy for him to achieve that, particularly as his late father had been Minister for Justice. He was always tremendously conscious of his responsibilities in terms of the Lenihan dynasty and of achieving things that would have made his father proud.

To be made Minister for Finance was a great honour but also brought great responsibility. I differed with him and his predecessor on their approach to the famous tax breaks that fuelled the property bubble, the bank guarantee and NAMA. However, these were political and ideological differences and arguments about matters that were fundamental to the well being of the people. I am happy that despite these clashes, it never ran to personal rancour or bitterness, which was one of the things that made Brian so respected across the political spectrum. There were long nights in this House when Brian was sitting where the Taoiseach is, the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, was sitting where Deputy Micheál Martin is now and I was somewhere hereabouts. We three carried the debates on our own with four or five people from the different parties coming in and out at different times. We often took time to talk privately in a quiet corner about the best way forward for the country. In the early months after the introduction of the bank guarantee, I gave him a short paper I had written about approaches to bank failures, bank resolution and so on. For months and even years afterwards when I met him, he still had the details of the eight or nine points on the paper, which he had taken in and analysed. He came back and discussed them with me as the situation evolved.

Above all Brian was a Fianna Fáil man born and bred. He loved Fianna Fáil with all his being as his father had done before. He, like Brian senior, loved the fun and mischievousness that people could get up to at election time and the little tricks that rivals in constituencies often played on each other, including why someone managed to appear at an event and someone else managed not to appear, the little things that make up the bread and butter of political experience. He also loved Ireland and its people - most people in politics, regardless of party, love their country and try to do their best.

He was immensely brave about his illness, and by doing so gave so much hope to other people afflicted by serious illness. He had that great ability of courage and grace under fire, and great fortitude. Many people who have been ill themselves have told me that they found the way he approached and coped with his illness deeply inspiring and comforting. His passing reminds us that there is more to life than just politics. Ultimately it is his family - his children, wife, mother, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles - who will really miss him and grieve very sorely for him. Politics is a bit like diplomacy - one has interests rather than friends. When times are tough, we go back to our family and core community, the people with whom we are most at ease. All the people who gave care and attention to Brian during his final illness and the months when his strength began to wane - he acknowledged that privately to many people here in this House - really did him a great service. In many ways it was being a politician and being a Minister which I often felt kept his adrenaline going in the face of the great challenges he faced at a personal level.

We mourn his passing. I hope he goes gently into that good night and I know that he did. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

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