Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a thabhairt do chlann Phádraig Ó Fachtna, a bhean chéile, Kitty, agus a chlann uilig. Bhí aithne mhaith agam ar Phádraig le tamall fada. Bhí an-suim ar fad aige i gcursaí Gaeilge ach go háirithe. Is minic agus is mó an chaint a bhí agam leis, de ghnáth as Gaeilge. Bhí an suim aige sa dúthaigh ina raibh mé i mo mhac léinn agus mar bhall den bhardas.

Pádraig Faulkner had a great interest in his local community. I speak as someone who knew him. There were three very powerful political figures when I was growing up. One was Pádraig Faulkner, another was Paddy Donegan and the third man was Jimmy Tully in County Meath. As Deputy Kirk could confirm, they all filled the pages of the Drogheda Independent. There was no local radio, but the punches and blows in the Dáil were deeply scrutinised. Pádraig was a very popular local Deputy. He was a particularly hard-working Deputy. He was in the Foresters' Hall at 6.30 p.m. every Monday night. One could walk in there, as I did on occasion, to meet him and to talk to him about constituency matters. He attended many funerals. As my colleagues from Drogheda are aware, he knew practically the entire town. Everybody respected him. Whether they voted for him was a different matter. People had the height of respect for him.

I speak as someone who obviously did not vote for him in 1977, but it was the greatest success Fianna Fáil had. The double F was the logo for Fianna Fáil but in that election it was the triple F in Fianna Fáil - Farrell, Filgate and Faulkner. Fianna Fáil returned three seats out of four to Leinster House. That stuck in my memory for a long time. For those who are connoisseurs of politics, there was not a vote between the Fianna Fáil candidates. There were only four seats. The candidates were properly regimented in historic Fianna Fáil tradition. It was a great credit to Pádraig Faulkner and his commitment to his party that the three Fianna Fáil candidates succeeded in that election. On another occasion they were successful also.

Pádraig Faulkner will be long remembered as a very honourable, decent, upright and honest man. His family can be very proud of him and his memory. He is held in the highest esteem regardless of political party allegiance in County Louth.

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