Brendan Ryan (Labour)

It is difficult to add to what everybody else has said. The Labour Party group agrees with all the sentiments expressed. As perhaps one of the few Members of the Oireachtas with a foot in the camp that was most hostile to the European project over many years, I must say that none of those I know who approached the forum with scepticism left it with other than a feeling that they were treated fairly, given a hearing and drawn in to a dialogue from which perhaps many had felt excluded in the past.

Seán Ó Faoláin famously described an Irish conversation as being like two men playing handball against two sides of the same wall, appearing to be in contact yet totally oblivious to each other. Senator Maurice Hayes has drawn the country into a serious dialogue on Europe which was long overdue, and has done it so quietly that one could easily believe there was no skill involved. The opposite is the case. The extraordinary skill lay in doing it quietly and firmly, in a way which drew everybody in. Thug sé, mar a dúirt an Seanadór Ó Tuathail, cluas le gach sruth sa díospóireacht faoi thodhchaí na hEorpa agus todhchaí na tíre seo san Eorap, ina measc an Ghaeilge agus na mionteangacha uilig atá scaipthe timpeall na hEorpa.

To put it mildly, this is a well deserved honour. Those who chose Senator Maurice Hayes as European of the Year chose very well, and I am delighted to be associated with the congratulations.