John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

On behalf of the Progressive Democrats I join previous speakers in extending our sympathies to the family of the late Gordon Lambert. I did not know him but from what I have read in the past days, I realise he was a cultured and educated man and a very successful businessman. His appointment to Seanad Éireann in 1977 by the then Taoiseach, Mr. Jack Lynch, was an inspired choice, given that in 1962, Mr. Lambert arranged the first meeting in Dublin between the Dublin and Belfast chambers of commerce, at a lunch hosted by Jacobs. He was already working at a time when it may not have been popular to develop these relationships. He had a vision for Ireland and for business and cultural relationships between North and South which we all must emulate.

At the same time in 1977, Jack Lynch made another inspired appointment when he appointed Mary Harney to the Seanad. Perhaps if things had turned out differently, Gordon Lambert could have ended up where Mary Harney is now.