John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

On behalf of the Progressive Democrats Party, I join in the tribute to Lady Valerie Goulding. It is right that the House should mark her passing. It is extraordinary that somebody who came from a high Tory family and a position of privilege and whose father, Viscount Monckton, was a Minister in the British Government, was able to marry that privilege to a need. Her privileged background gave her access that otherwise might not have been available, but it is remarkable that somebody of her stature should have had a deep and abiding interest in underprivileged people who had been badly injured and hurt. The achievement of establishing the Central Remedial Clinic stands most remarkably to her memory. Similar achievements are taken for granted nowadays, but for a woman to have established such a clinic at that time leads one to believe that she must have been a formidable lady, although she was also a great lady.

She met her husband at Fairyhouse races in the late 1930s and her family had a great connection with racing and the arts. The Goulding family and Lady Goulding, in particular, have left a significant mark on Irish life, which has been greatly of benefit to the nation and reflects extraordinarily well on her.