Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

This raises the interesting question of whether a parent is a parent regardless of whether he or she is alive or dead. I have a bad habit in public discourse of referring to my late father. My wife constantly corrects me on this, saying that he is my father, always was my father and always will be my father. It does not follow that a person should cease to be a parent simply because he or she is dead.