Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have to say that he came down and I said "No, I am not standing. When there were Seanad nominations going, you forgot about Michael Ring, when the TDs themselves were picking the Senators who they could nominate." But anyway he came to my house on a Sunday afternoon on a miserable wet day and he begged me to go. Then I got the phone call from Phil Hogan and they got a few people from Westport - Patrick Durkan and people like that - to come to my house, and I agreed to go. I stood in the by-election in 1994 and John Bruton for two weeks before that was under tremendous pressure, and I mean pressure. We won that by-election against all the odds. I remember I said on RTÉ that night, Jim Fahy sent it on to me, and Leo, I want you to listen, this was in May, "Before the year is out, John Bruton will be Taoiseach, Enda Kenny will have a full car and I will have a half car". John Bruton became Taoiseach, Enda Kenny got the full car but I got no car. To be fair, in 1997, John Bruton sat where the Taoiseach is sitting now. At 12 noon, he adjourned the Dáil and we were having a general election. He whispered something in my ear. People will have to buy the book, however, because I am not going to tell you today what he said.

Two weeks ago - Richard knows this - I spoke to John. He was not that well. I used ring him on a regular basis. He was a wonderful politician, a wonderful Taoiseach, a wonderful statesman, a wonderful family man, a tremendous Fine Gael man and he understood how politics worked. I will just tell two quick stories. I will tell one about Deputy Howlin in a minute and I will tell one about John Farrelly.

That time, when we would be having elections, you would have a big night with all the candidates to launch the candidates but there was a problem in Meath because John Bruton was the leader and there were also Damien English and John Farrelly. They could not agree to anybody to launch the campaign for them. I was given the job. The next thing, I got a phone call from John Farrelly who said, "Make sure now you give me a good mention tonight". Then I got a phone call from Damien English who said, "Make sure you give me a good mention tonight". That evening, I got a phone call from the leader of Fine Gael who said, "Make sure you give a good mention tonight". So all politics is local.

The other story I am going to is about when I came into the Dáil in 1994. The rainbow coalition came to office soon after. Deputy Howlin will remember that we had many a battle about water. Two things happened, namely, the Government abolished the property tax and it abolished the water charges. However, it forgot about the group water schemes. We will not go into that now, but we had a big problem in Westport. I do not mind saying this even if some Fianna Fáilers are present. For 20 years, Fianna Fáil was in government and never did anything about it. All of a sudden, I won a by-election. Water was the biggest single issue in Mayo at the time. I went to Government Buildings and rang Mr. Roy Dooney, who said that the Taoiseach was going to Paris that night to attend a meeting. I said that I did not care where he was going and that if he did not see me, I would not vote on the Wednesday night. At that time, we only had a majority of one or two. In fairness, I got a phone call back to say that the Taoiseach would see me for ten minutes at 5.10 p.m. I went in and he started showing me around Government Buildings. I will not tell you what I said to him. I am going to put that in the book as well, because I would not like to put it on the record of the Dáil . In all fairness, he picked up the phone and rang my colleague, then Minister for the Environment, Deputy Howlin. He said: "Michael Ring is here with me. He has a problem and I want you to try to resolve that problem." Within two weeks, between the Taoiseach and Deputy Howlin, progress was made. Deputy Howlin got me coming up here to vote on a Wednesday night - I will tell you the full story on that one - and said, "I have a good letter here for you. We have signed off €5.5 million but we have no money". But by the end of the year, however, they were looking for Mayo County Council to spend that money. He said, "I am going to give it to my colleagues Jim Higgins and Enda Kenny in the morning.", and I said, "You will not because they did nothing about it for the last 20 years. The one who will be announcing it is me.", and I did. John Bruton fixed that for me. We were great friends.

As I said, I spoke to him a couple of Saturdays ago. I got a beautiful card at Christmas from John, and I wrote to him. I was really upset this week. He was a gentleman. He was a great politician. He understood what politics was about. He was a grassroots politician, he was a European politician and he was a world politician, but he never forgot where he came from. He never forgot the constituency of Meath because he knew the people there elected him. Even when he was Taoiseach, he used to hold clinics. I know some Members frown on clinics, but they were what kept us alive in 2002. In the bad days, that is what kept the ones who got elected alive. The ones who did not get elected did not do their clinics, and that was their business.

All I want to say to the Bruton family is: Richard, you were so lucky to have a wonderful brother, but then he was so lucky to have you. The Taoiseach alluded to the fact that there were two powerful politicians in the same family. The Brutons were always decent, they were always nice and they stood for what I stood for in Fine Gael. They believed that you had to stand by the people who elected you.

For Finola and the Bruton family, this is a sad day. It is also a sad day for Mayo and for the country.

All I want to say is I was honoured that, by winning the by-elections in 1994 with Eric Byrne of Democratic Left, we were able to formulate the Government. Sometimes Fine Gael writes that out of the history but it is there. Were it not for me and Eric Byrne, Fine Gael, Democratic Left and Labour would not have been able to go into government. That was the first time since the foundation of the State that we did not have a general election when a Government fell. I was glad to be part of that Government. We delivered a lot for the country and, in particular, to my county, Mayo. Today, I say to the Bruton family and to Ireland, we have lost a great man, a great leader and a great politician.

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