Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leader for giving us an opportunity to express our sympathy to the Doherty family on the death of Seán. I want to extend my deep sympathy to his wife, Maura and their daughters, Rachel, Cara, Leah and Evelyn; his grandchildren, Kate, Seán Luke, James and JJ; his brothers, Kevin and Colm, sisters Ann, Maria and Philomena and the extended Doherty family. It is a tragedy for the family to lose Seán at this stage when he was enjoying his retirement from politics. He was particularly delighted when his daughter, Rachel, became a member of Roscommon County Council in June 2004. For Maura and himself, it was lovely to see that continuity. People may not realise that his grandfather, Councillor Hogg, was a member of Roscommon County Council, as was his father, Jim. Seán was a member since 1973 and now Rachel is a member the council, which shows great service from the Doherty and Hogg family to the people of the region.

Many stories are told about Seán and me because both of us were elected to Roscommon County Council in 1974. We turned that county council into the mini Dáil Éireann it should be. We concentrated for three years on national issues as opposed to local issues, with which we also dealt very effectively. We regarded all national issues as relevant to our work, particularly during the glorious period when the Fianna Fáil Party was in Opposition. We turned that into our challenge to the Government. We had wonderful debates in that forum on many occasions. Every week we worked out the maximum notices and motions to get the maximum results and, with respect, the maximum publicity as neither of us was too shy in that regard at the time. Both of us were nominated in St. Mary's Hall, Carrick-on-Shannon, in May 1977. Deputy John Ellis was the other candidate at that stage and we took two of the three seats in the Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency. We won back the seat which, unfortunately, was lost in 1973. My good friend and mentor, the late Brian Lenihan, Seán and I were elected with many others to Dáil Éireann in 1977. He was made Minister of State at the Department of Justice and subsequently Minister for Justice and he gave total commitment to his constituents. I attended the funeral of Seán's mother on 20 May. He invited me to join him at the family table in The Bush Hotel. We spent two hours talking about the past, present and future, debating many stories which are now in the public domain and adding the details which both of us have from different sides. It was not always a one-way ticket as far as I was concerned.

In 1977, after we were both elected, we were invited to lunch at the Royal Hibernian Hotel by the Minister for Health, Charles J. Haughey. We discussed primarily Roscommon County Hospital, but we also realistically discussed the future leadership of Fianna Fáil.