Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the constituents and the members of Fine Gael in the constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, north Roscommon and south Donegal, I want to send my condolences and sympathies to Finola Bruton, the Bruton family and my colleague Richard Bruton. John Bruton was a man of principle, ideas, honour, integrity and passion. He was also a great man of honesty and fun.

I want to talk about my two meetings with John Bruton. The first was in 2002 during the famous Seanad campaign. Anybody who understands a Seanad campaign will know that a lot of politicians from your own party will ask you, "Why wouldn't I vote for you?", but John Bruton looked me in the eye and told me I would not be getting a No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 from him because they were going to someone else. I was disappointed, but afterwards I realised that in that Seanad campaign, he was one of maybe only five people who had actually told the truth.

As for my second meeting with John, I was walking down Grafton Street and met him for a coffee. He asked me what politics was like and I mentioned a funeral I had attended at a country house in County Sligo. I said two brothers from Donegal were there and I had been trying to determine where they were from, so I asked them if they knew my great colleague Joe McHugh from Carrickart. I said I had shared an office with Joe for five years. They said, "Ach, aye, we know Joe well. He's a good fella," so I said to myself, maybe they are Fine Gael. I then asked if they knew my other colleague Dinny McGinley, whose office was next door to mine, and they said, "Ach, we know Dinny well. He's a good fella." As I was going out the door, I asked if they knew my other colleague Pat The Cope Gallagher and they said, "We know Pat well. He's a great fella."

The howls of laughter that John gave in the restaurant off Grafton Street were such that I thought we would be barred for life.

On the rainbow coalition, John led that Government and changed our country economically and socially. He was a committed European. The joint framework document he signed with John Major, to me, brought peace to this country. He had a great understanding of unionism and unionist views which are now much more appreciated and necessary for peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland and the island of the UK. John Bruton, you made a difference. You were a man of great integrity and you will be missed. May he rest in peace.

See this speech in context