Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join others in paying tribute to a former distinguished Member of this House, John Bruton. I first extend my sympathy to his wife, Finola, their children and our colleague Deputy Richard Bruton. Above all, this is a personal loss, and that is something I would like to acknowledge. It is always very difficult to lose a father, a husband and a brother, and John was a colossus in their lives. I know how close they were.

In the time I have, I want to reflect on the legacy of John Bruton. If you look at his career, it spans five decades from the sixties all the way up to the noughties. His career mirrored the transformation of Ireland into a modern country. When he was elected in 1969, we were still not members of the EEC. We joined it in 1973 and his career was very much in tandem with that. Longevity in politics is becoming a rarity, but apart from that, longevity with delivery and purpose has to be acknowledged. John Bruton stood the test of time.

He had a career. His former colleague, Deputy English, referred to it. Listening to "Morning Ireland" earlier, the affection people had for him in Dunboyne was evident. He was universally liked. We hear that politics should be more about being in Parliament than being on the ground. Politics is not like that. We learn what we need to do fully in this House by meeting people on the ground. There is no substitute for it. John Bruton was the epitome of that. He was the epitome of decency. He was a wise and simple man.

I remember meeting him in the Dáil bar not that long ago. I had a discussion with him for perhaps half an hour, and he covered everything in that time. I refer to his knowledge of everything. We did not agree about everything, but he stood by his convictions, and this must be fully acknowledged.

He has left a legacy in the context of his family, his constituency and his role as Taoiseach. As Deputy Howlin said, it was a unique time when he was Taoiseach. It had not happened before and has not happened since, but he put a government together in the middle of an electoral cycle. This was against a backdrop where people were saying it could not happen. Dick Spring, Proinsias De Rossa and John Bruton were the leaders of the parties involved, and that was a hugely successful coalition Government. We will never know how John Bruton would have done if it had been re-elected. He went on, however, to be the EU's ambassador to the US and he made a significant contribution in that role.

The other thing he very much was the champion of was that he believed our future was with Europe. There were many naysayers at the time but he has been proven correct. We are a modern, open economy. Our connection to Europe is greatly important in respect of all our interactions now, including even in Ukraine and Gaza. John Bruton operated on the national stage.

If I can be parochial, I turn to his leadership of Fine Gael. I refer to the number of texts I got from members of the party and councillors demonstrating the affection he was held in. Deputy Coveney also referred to this aspect. John Bruton was universally liked in our party. People enjoyed it when he came along because they knew it was going to be a robust discussion. He might not have agreed with them, but people knew it certainly was not going to be boring. His legacy, then, is one of continuing public service right up to the end and of always doing what he believed was right.

I will finish on the fact that the Northern Ireland Assembly was restored on the eve of his passing. The one thing that was certainly evident from that 1994 to 1997 coalition government is that people can work together. They may not have the same views, but if people work for the common good, then what comes out of that are synergies. The one thing John Bruton did was to lay the foundation for modern coalitions. They are what the public like. He was ahead of his time in this regard. The public are very comfortable with coalitions and rainbow governments. One of the reasons they are is because the coalition Government from 1994 to 1997, under the stewardship of John Bruton as Taoiseach, showed the concept could work. I believe this is his lasting legacy. With that, I bid a fond farewell to John. May he rest in peace. He has done the State some service and he was a true patriot.

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