Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá brón orainn go léir sa Teach de dheasca bhás Austin Currie. Ba chóir dúinn machnamh a dhéanamh ar an dlúthról a bhí aige i ngluaisteacht cearta sibhialta an Tuaiscirt. Fear agus polaiteoir den scoth a bhí ann. D'oibrigh sé go dícheallach, Domhnach is dálach, ar son mhuintir na tíre, sa Tuaisceart agus sa Deisceart araon. Bhí léargas leithleach agus faoi leith aige ar an oileán iomlán agus tuiscint faoi leith aige ar gach gné den pholaitíocht.

Yesterday, we learned of the passing of Austin Currie. He was a former colleague in this House for more than a decade and served the State with honour and integrity as Minister of State with responsibility for children, embracing the Departments of Education, Justice and Health at the time. On that basis alone, he would be deserving of national recognition and respect. However, Austin Currie's contribution to Irish politics was much more profound than his service here, for he was one of that extraordinary generation of Northern leaders. In the face of the appalling injustices and degradations of the Northern state at that time, they recognised the power of peaceful protest and understood that social and economic justice and progress would only be secured through the force of argument. His protest on housing rights in Caledon is widely seen as the beginning of the civil rights movement. Then, along with those other great names, Hume, Cooper, Fitt, Devlin, O'Hanlon and others, he founded the SDLP and developed the fundamental political philosophy that ultimately became the basis of peace and power-sharing across the board and underpins the institutions we have today.

Alongside this intellectual capacity, Austin Currie was also a man of great physical courage. More than 30 times his family home was attacked by elements within loyalism, so-called, and elements within republicanism, so-called, yet with his colleagues he persisted. Our country owes him a great debt for this persistence. Many people are alive today and raising families of their own because of this persistence. We have peace in our country because of this persistence.

Away from politics Austin Currie was deeply committed to his family. I know they will be feeling his loss very deeply at this moment but I also know they will take comfort and some pride from the fact that his was a life well lived and that he was one of those who truly made Ireland a better place. To his wife Anita, his children, including our colleague in the Oireachtas, Senator Emer Currie, his siblings and wider family circle, his friends in the SDLP and his Fine Gael colleagues in the Oireachtas, I offer my sincerest sympathy and gratitude. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

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