Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join all the other speakers in expressing sympathy at the death of Ted Nealon to his wife, Jo, his son, Fergal, and to his daughter, Louise. I knew Ted Nealon and was here when he was a Minister and a Deputy. He brought to this House a full and very fulfilled life and, as other speakers have said, a great knowledge of the outside world, which was the basis and foundation of his expertise in politics when he came here.

He wrote the book to which everybody has referred after 1973 when he starred in that famous programme and defied all the other predictions which were being made by experts, including computers, in forecasting during the programme that the party, which he was later to join, would form a government. That was because he had done an extraordinary amount of work and carried an enormous amount of knowledge about the detail of every village and town in this country.

I believe his heart and head happily coincided on that occasion, which gave him both the result he wanted and the correct result. That was a pleasant coincidence. He then went on to become Government press secretary in 1976 and to be elected to the Dáil in 1981. At the same time, his book continued to be published.

I think I am right in saying that the references to his Gaelic football career are correct but this was combined with a rather versatile career in sport in that he also played rugby league for Lancashire. I am sure he was the only person who played rugby league for Lancashire that also played Gaelic football for Sligo. That is a magnificent achievement. While it is probably not his greatest achievement it is one that is probably unlikely to be repeated.

The Taoiseach was probably massaging the truth when he referred to Ted having written a book entitled Tales of Leinster House. The book was actually entitled Tales from the Dáil Bar.The Dáil bar was a pleasant place in which to meet Ted Nealon because, as others have said, he was a magnificent raconteur. He was, if I might say so, pretty well party blind in the choice of his friends in that he did not appear to distinguish between those who sat on the Government side of the House and this side of it. He was so entranced and absolutely intrigued by the business of politics that he would talk about it to anyone and share his great knowledge with anybody regardless of colour.

We have lost someone with a great fascination with and knowledge of politics and who made a great contribution to politics. I again sympathise with his family.

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