Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I cannot help thinking that if Eileen was here she would blush because although everything that was said about her this morning is true, she would not thank one for saying it like that. In thinking of her the word that springs to mind is "courageous" and it has already been used to describe her. We referred to courage in the political context but she was also extraordinarily courageous personally. When she was widowed 40 years ago at the age of 32 she ran in a by-election. She did not run just because she was a Deputy's widow. I never asked her about it directly but she was reported to have said she was a member of the Labour Party before her husband was a member. She ran because she was a committed person.

We know the level of success Eileen had in her political career but she was also an extraordinarily successful mother. I cannot think of anybody whose relationship with her adult children I would more like to emulate. They had grown into a community of friends who only differed in age, particularly Eileen and Paula, both of whom I had the great fortune to know well.

I voted for Eileen on occasions when I was in the constituency. I campaigned on her behalf even when I was not a member of the Labour Party because people's comments about her caught my imagination and inspired me as an observer of politics in those days. As the years went by and I got to know her both inside and outside the Labour Party I found her a committed ally of all of the causes in which people with hearts and convictions on the left of Irish politics would like to be involved. She was never irresolute or in doubt; she knew where she stood. That was not just 20 years ago, it continued until recently. Last June, she canvassed on behalf of Paula and me in the local and European elections. The bringing about of political change as she saw it never ceased to be a central part of her life. However, she was more than that to me — she was a good friend who had a good sense of humour, particularly about herself. This is why I stated at the outset that she would have been somewhat embarrassed by these tributes and her response would have been a humorous put down about herself.

The Labour Party, both locally in Cork South-Central and nationally, will notice her absence and miss her. As Senator O'Toole quite rightly stated, she was an icon and a remarkably brave woman but, most fundamentally for members of the Labour Party, she was a lovely woman to whom one warmed and responded. She was also perhaps the most effective canvasser with whom I have ever knocked on doors. She had a capacity to resonate with people and remember them and people remembered her. Anywhere one travelled in Cork South-Central, Mrs. Desmond was a figure with whom people immediately identified.

Paula, Honor, Feena and Max — her daughters and two grandchildren — will miss her desperately. She was the linchpin in a close and very united family and her absence will be a very significant gap in all of their lives. It is to them, on behalf of the Labour Party, that I extend my deepest sympathy because they deserved to have her for much longer. She was very much herself still and it was a great tragedy that she was taken from them so soon, so suddenly and so comparatively young. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.