Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like hundreds of thousands of Irish people at home and abroad, I stopped in my tracks when I heard the news of the passing of Gay Byrne while I was in my constituency office yesterday afternoon. I wondered why it affected all of us to hear that. It is almost like a bereavement in any family. I was trying to think of a precedent and I could not. I thought of the words of the then French President, Georges Pompidou, when General de Gaulle died. He said, very profoundly, "General De Gaulle is dead. France is a widow". While I cannot think of any current era Irish politician who had the same emotional impact on his or her passing, there is a notion that we are all affected. We are all affected because Gaybo was the soundtrack to all our lives for so long. He was the authentic voice of all the internal discussion and complexity of a maturing Ireland, and the certainty of voices coming to different conclusions. His loss is felt by all but clearly, none more than his beloved wife Kathleen, his daughters Crona and Suzy, and his many friends throughout Ireland and especially in his former workplace at RTÉ.

Like many people in this House, I had the privilege of meeting Gay on several occasion, with encounters, for example, at the Wexford Opera Festival when he was a visitor there, and while talking to him across the table with a microphone. I always found him to be polite, generous and professional. The last occasion I spoke to him was when we were both leaving the National Gallery of Ireland. Although he was battling at that stage with his illness he vowed to return to see an exhibition I had mentioned to him.

Forward looking as always, like few others Gay Byrne made an indelible mark for good on this nation and its people. On behalf of all my colleagues in the Labour Party, I offer sincere condolences to his family, his beloved wife and his friends.

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