Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Quite a number of Members in the House served with John Bruton. Our colleagues Richard, John's brother, Brendan Howlin, who has just spoken, and Michael Lowry who is unavoidably abroad at the moment, have a unique insight into John because they served with him in Cabinet when he was Taoiseach. I served on John's last Front Bench and what springs to mind for me when I think of John Bruton is a phrase we use in rural Ireland, which is that he was the salt of the earth.

I say that for a number of reasons. First, for John, politics was about people and how it could make a real difference to their lives and make things better for them. I remember him telling a story - many of my former colleagues in Fine Gael will recall it - of driving from Meath to Leinster House. Driving towards Dublin on the M50 early in the morning, he saw in the lane beside him a woman in her car with her children in the back seat eating their breakfast. Those children, as John said, had probably got up an hour previously and would probably not arrive at their crèche in Dublin for another hour because they were still were sitting in traffic. Incidents like that had a profound effect on John. He was determined to see issues such as that addressed for the individuals involved but also for society as a whole.

John did not talk to people, he talked with people. I recall visiting Roscommon Hospital with him in 1997 when he was Taoiseach. We met a man in one of the hospital beds, Paddy Walsh from Antogher Road. At the time, Paddy was receiving a blood transfusion. Paddy had been very sick but he was really animated and wanted to talk to the Taoiseach about the impact the hospital had on his life and on the community in Roscommon. John took the time to listen to Paddy. That was the one thing about him - he actively listened to people. He had a notebook that he took with him everywhere. He was never in a rush to disengage from a conversation. Everyone who has commented on John has said he was a man brimming with ideas, but he was also quite willing to adapt and alter those ideas based on the feedback he heard from colleagues and from the individuals he spoke with.

Second, John was a principled man. He was never the politician of the sound bite. He was someone of substance - policy substance and ideas to reform Ireland for the better. He wore these principles on his sleeve and expressed and defended them even when he sacrificed political support as a result of doing so. On many occasions, he had to confront the ire of the parliamentary party as a result.

Third, John was the salt of the earth too because he had a strong love of the land and rural Ireland. John Bruton was a statesman who could debate economics with the best. He could also debate constitutional issues and European politics, but his eyes lit up when he talked about farming. He was a grounded man who understood rural Ireland. This understanding was instrumental when his Government established the Western Development Commission to stimulate economic development in a part of the country that was at that time faced with economic stagnation, providing regional economic balance before its time.

On my behalf, on behalf of my family and on behalf of the Regional Group of Independents, I offer sincere sympathy to Finola, Matthew, Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth, to our colleague Richard and John's sister Mary, to the extended Bruton family and to the Fine Gael Party throughout the country. John's legacy as a statesman and a sincere, compassionate individual will undoubtedly endure. He was the salt of the earth. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.

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