Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le teaghlach John Bruton, lena bhean chéile Finola, lena triúr iníonacha agus lena mhac, lena dheartháir Richard, agus lena dheirfiúr Mary. Déanaim comhbhrón leis na daoine uilig ó Chontae na Mí. Fear díograiseach, cróga, ildánach agus ionraic ab ea John Bruton. John was an honest man and at the heart of everything he did was loyalty. I came across this level of loyalty in 1999. I have to be careful here because I have Frank Feighan to my right and Kieran O'Donnell to my left. When I was elected to the council in 1999, I was, like Frankie, in a bit of a hurry and I wanted to get up the road to Donegal, but John was against that idea straight away. He was honest about that, but he was also very supportive. He said to me that there was a future for me in politics but that we would figure it out along the way, so we did figure it out. In the Seanad election of 2002 - the truth always comes out and this is a very dangerous place to do it - he supported me, and it is very important that Kieran and Frankie know that at this stage. Frankie had too many votes anyway, he told me.

See this speech in context