Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is fitting that we are here today on the late Paddy Power's 85th birthday to remember a man with a remarkable legacy in this House, in the local authority and in public life in general. My dealings with Paddy were in the autumn of his life when he had retired from public life, but he was still a great character to talk to and to learn from.

My stepfather remarked to me early on when I got involved in politics that he remembered Paddy Power cycling past the house where my stepfather lived on his way to his first job, which was a teaching job in Grangecon in County Wicklow. For anybody who knows the geography of that area, it is a long cycle from the Curragh to Grangecon, and I mentioned that to Paddy at the time.

I heard that if Paddy was attending a meeting in Athy, perhaps on Woodstock Street or the Stradbally Road, he would park at the Grove Cinema at the opposite end of the town and give himself plenty of time to walk to the meeting to make sure he met as many people as possible along the way. That is a lesson for all of us in politics.

For somebody from an inland county like Kildare to be Minister with responsibility for fisheries, it does not cause too many problems with constituents, but for someone born and raised on the Curragh, there can be no greater honour than becoming Minister for Defence. I know it was a huge honour for Paddy, his family and the Fianna Fáil Party in general and it was a position he occupied with distinction. He also showed himself to be good at multi-tasking in serving as an MEP between 1977 and 1979.

Paddy had a long legacy in politics, but, with a wife and family of ten, he also had a long legacy outside it. Every family makes sacrifices when the father or husband is a Member of the Dáil, a Minister and a public representative. Days like today, however, prove that the sacrifices such families make are more than rewarded by the recognition of great public service such as that Paddy provided for the people of County Kildare. On behalf of Fine Gael and the people of Kildare South, I offer my sincere sympathy to the Power family and Fianna Fáil.

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