Brendan Ryan (Labour)

——one could not but be aware of the family's place in Irish politics, even if my awareness of its members' immensity was sometimes ascertained through fairly colourful descriptions of them. That was the nature of politics then and is probably still the case. The contribution of that family to Irish politics was immense. Former Senator O'Higgins was one of a family which made an enormous contribution. Before he retired I was aware of his significance as a figure in Irish politics when he was Leader of the House and before that I was aware of him as a member of a family that had contributed a great deal to Irish politics. There is an element here of a dynasty beginning to be left behind by time. A number of figures in the O'Higgins family contributed in the period from 1920 to 1932-3 to the cementing of democracy on both sides of the political divide and the willingness to abandon violence and accept democratic change. All members of the O'Higgins family in every generation contributed to this end. We in the Labour Party wish to be associated with the tributes to Michael J. O'Higgins. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.