Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is fitting that we are paying tributes today to the late Ted Nealon. I welcome his family to Dáil Éireann. I knew Ted Nealon. My first engagement with politics was during the H-Block hunger strikes. Up to that point, I had kept a lengthy distance from politics. The H-Block hunger strikes drove me to try to bring about change in this country.

My first engagement with what I would call a senior politician was with Ted Nealon. I had engagement with politicians because I was deeply involved in the Joe McDonnell election campaign but it was more about trying to save his life than it was about getting him elected. We were trying to get him elected in order to save his life and the lives of others. I had engagement with many politicians, in particular with Deputies in Sligo-Leitrim and throughout the north west.

I will say now what I have said down through the years. Ted Nealon was the best of the senior politicians I met during that very traumatic time. Ted Nealon was a gentleman, a consummate politician and a humanitarian. Some of the Deputies would not talk to me while others talked to me and said they would do something but nothing happened. On several occasions, Ted Nealon took me in, sat down and explained to me the concern he had not only for the hunger strikers but for society and for the destabilising effect politics was having on people. He explained what he was doing to try to help resolve the situation. He also explained the limitations of a senior politician and the limitations of what he could and could not do. He was superb. He was greatly loved and respected by the people of Sligo-Leitrim. He is probably one of those rare breeds - a gentleman who went into politics but who did not lose the gentlemanly aspect. May the good Lord rest him and may the family be proud of him because the people of Sligo-Leitrim will always be proud of Ted Nealon.

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