Joe O'Toole (Independent)

A Chathaoirligh, in paying tribute to the memory of John Francis Conlan I should say none of us on the Independent benches served with him, although I did meet him on one or two occasions on trips he made back here. It is ironic and perhaps fitting in another way that on today of all days we should pay tribute to a man who was part of that generation of politicians who bridged the gap between the gun and the vote. In that sense he is deserving in a fundamental way of the tribute we pay him.

In his half century of commitment to public life as a Senator, Deputy, county councillor and urban councillor, we hear of John Francis as a man of the people, one who was rooted in his locality. He was a community worker of the kind we now badly need. He was part of what has been lost in today's society, social capital. He invested significant personal social capital in his community.

For those of us of my age who were looking at politics from afar before we got in here, his name was ever present in election reports during all those years from the 1960s to the 1980s. We extend our condolences to the Fine Gael Party and more particularly to former Senator Conlan's wife and family.