Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

We were looking down onLeinster House. It was a beautiful lunch and CJ suggested that one of us should choose the wine. As he was a connoisseur, we decided we would give in to his superior knowledge of these issues.

During my last discussion with Seán a number of weeks ago, he commented on how happy he was with what he had achieved in life, how settled he was and the many plans he had for the development of Cootehall, including a marina and so forth. He also had a great interest in the political career of his daughter, Rachel. Somebody will write the book and I hope when things settle down, Maura may have an opportunity to put together the true facts about Seán Doherty. He was bright, intelligent, articulate, fun loving, serious and committed.

At the end of the day, the people of Roscommon and south Leitrim received a wonderful service from both myself and Seán. If either of us failed, the other achieved. If it failed us, it failed everyone because we made sure no one else would succeed if we failed. I was in Jerusalem, Palestine, when I heard of his illness and I was glad to make it back for his funeral. Seán would enjoy this levity because that was his style.

I offer my deepest sympathy to his family and, please God, he will be remembered fondly by all who knew him, particularly in Roscommon, south Leitrim, Longford and east Galway. He was a dear friend, a great constituency worker, a great person with a great personality and a great church man. He was chairman of the parish council and he had many other involvements. He is a loss to all those groups. It is regrettable that he did not survive for many more years.