Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to express my sincere sympathies to the family of the late Albert Reynolds. I was privileged to serve in the coalition Government that Albert Reynolds and Dick Spring led together, a Fianna Fáil-Labour Government that achieved a tremendous amount in a short period. I was a new Deputy. Deputy Howlin, Deputy Stagg - no, perhaps not that one - and I served in that Government. I always found Albert to be an extremely encouraging and dynamic can-do type of person with whom to work.

He set himself two objectives as Taoiseach - to make economic progress and for Ireland to be at peace. Although his time as Taoiseach was relatively brief for reasons that do not require rehashing today, it is fair to say that he made hugely significant progress on both fronts. On the economic front, that Government helped to lay the foundation for a period of sustained growth and raised living standards.

Of course, it is for his contribution to the peace process that Albert will be best and rightly remembered. He was a public servant and public representative who brought an unusual amount of private sector deal-making experience to the job. That helped enormously in the peace process. As has been well documented, he was prepared to take risks to further the process when others in the same position may well have balked. The risks paid off, culminating in the signing of the Downing Street Declaration in 1993, an agreement that paved the way for multi-party talks involving all sides of the divide in the North.

As one of the many women first elected to the Dáil in 1992, I have to say that it was not a particularly woman-friendly place at the time. This institution did not even have a picture of a woman gracing its halls.

Albert stood out as a man who was not shy about acknowledging his devotion and commitment to his family - his wife and children, including his many daughters. This was at a time when men, particularly in the Oireachtas, did not wear their hearts on their sleeves where family and children were concerned. Those tended to be left behind at the door of Leinster House. Albert really stood out. His family - his beloved wife Kathleen and his children - came first. He was very proud of them, their achievements, their education, their careers and their glamour. He made no secret of that. I found it extremely refreshing and positive that one could be quite open about family and family commitments while the earlier generations of men serving in the Dáil then were much more discreet about their families. It was refreshing and admirable, particularly in the context of the many women who were first elected at that stage.

Albert was a character. He had all of the cunning and deviousness occasionally required of politicians, but he was a very good person to work with and he was an honourable man. I regretted when, in later years, I used to meet him in the library and his memory and faculties had grown frailer and dimmer. He was not the acute person he had been when I first met him. However, I consider it an honour to have known him and a distinction and a pleasure to have worked with him. I want to express again my sincere condolences to Kathleen, the girls and his two sons.

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