Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I join the Taoiseach, party leaders and other Members in extending my condolences to Patricia, Tom, Clare and the rest of the Lenihan family on their sad loss. I extend my condolences to the Fianna Fáil Party, for whom a bright light has gone out.

I first got to know Brian when I was a young councillor in about 2003, at which time he was Minister of State responsible for children. He was already the senior politician in the constituency. As an ambitious young councillor looking to make a name for myself, I always made a point of taking Brian on and holding him to account for pretty much everything that went wrong in the constituency in the hope that criticism would give rise to provocation and, perhaps, publicity for myself. More often than not, Brian's good humour and unflappable nature thwarted my objectives. He always seemed to be able to rise above the cut and thrust of normal politics. When Brian was speaking at constituency functions as a Minister of State, as he always did at that time, he always began by acknowledging the presence of politicians from other political parties, who potentially would have gone unnoticed had he not done so. I promised myself at the time that if I ever had the opportunity to be a Minister, I would make sure to do the exact same. I do so. He was a very good constituency colleague. He was always willing to share information and listen to suggestions, and his first instinct when a problem was presented was to try to solve it rather than rush to the media or the barricades.

Brian Lenihan was the only Fianna Fáil Deputy to hold a seat in the Dublin area in the recent general election. Most politicians believe they have a personal vote but it is only when the tide goes out for one's party or one decides to go it alone that one finds out who does and does not have a personal vote. In the most recent general election the tide went out for Fianna Fáil as it had never gone out previously but Brian held on, and the genuine personal vote he had stuck with him.

His legacy and achievements are etched into the fabric of the Dublin West constituency, for example, St. Francis Hospice in Blanchardstown for which he secured the land and funding - in a bitter irony Brian became one of its first home care patients; playgrounds across west Dublin and Ireland were built on foot of the national play policy, which was developed while he was Minister; and also school buildings.

When Dublin West faced a very serious school places crisis in 2006 Brian took it upon himself to try to solve that problem. He went into the Department and worked with it to establish a new model of national school, the community national school, of which we now have two in Dublin West, Scoil Choilm and Scoil Grainne. Neither of those schools are called after saints because they are run by the State and are non-denominational. They were given a random Irish language name to give them some identity but the next time we build a community national school in Dublin 15 we might call it Scoil Brían after Brian Lenihan and to remember him in that way.

Brian was extremely intelligent but always grounded. He was patrician but never superior. Sometimes he was wrong but he always tried to do what was right. When others were weak he was strong. When others gave up, he fought on. When others complained that they could give no more, Brian gave everything.

Members will be aware that he was a very learned man and from time to time liked to quote the great Greek philosophers. I will end with a quote from Aristotle: "The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper". May he rest in peace.

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