Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

It is great to speak on this motion of sympathy. I thank the Leader for affording all Members of the House an opportunity to put on record their tribute to the late Pope John Paul II. There is no time limit on this discussion.

I remember the visit of Pope John Paul II to this country. It was a crowded schedule and he visited many parts of the country. He was in the Phoenix Park, Limerick, Galway, Dundalk, Maynooth, Knock and Clonmacnoise in my native county. It was a great honour to be present that morning in Clonmacnoise with one's family to meet the Pope on his first visit to this country. Clonmacnoise, as the Pope acknowledged, is a holy place of learning and its monastery produced many missionaries to spread the Catholic faith around the world.

I watched television on Easter Sunday, when His Holiness came to the window of his apartment. It was moving that he was unable to speak, even to say goodbye. The television and radio coverage of his death was outstanding. Great credit is due to our national broadcaster for its coverage. It gave the elderly and the housebound an opportunity to see the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The Pope was leader of our church for 26 years. He was probably the greatest leader of all time of any state or church. That was recognised by the attendance of world leaders at the funeral to pay their last respects. The television coverage described his life in Poland. He lived during troubled times. He came from a humble background and had to work hard as a young man. He had many brushes with death during the difficult war years. He also survived an attempt on his life. He certainly must have had the guiding hand of the Lord to survive that attempt and to get through the dangerous times in Poland.

As one watched the television coverage, it was hard to imagine the difficult times in Poland. However, things were also difficult in this country 26 years ago. The Pope showed great leadership in the church. He achieved many changes. There was great involvement of lay people in the church during his pontificate. I accept that he was let down by a small percentage of people during his time as leader of our great church but nobody was more disappointed than he. I thank the Leader for affording us the opportunity to express our sympathy on the death of our Holy Father.