Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

On behalf of my colleagues in this House, and on behalf of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, I join the Leader's expression of sympathy for the families of former Senators John M. Mannion and Pat Codd. John Mannion and his family are known throughout the country as coming from a distinct political tradition in Galway-West. The Mannions have been in politics since the 1940s. John Mannion Senior was a distinguished Member of both Houses throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

In recent years my party colleagues were sad to hear that John M. was crippled with arthritis. He has died young, at only 62 years of age. Our hearts and sympathy go out to his wife, Doris, and their two children. They live in a beautiful location in Clifden from where politically it is difficult to be elected in west Galway. John was a great champion of Connemara and of Galway. As the Leader of the House said, he had a distinguished record of service on Galway County Council for many years. He was a Member of this House from 1969 to 1973 and as a result of elections was a Member of the Dáil from 1977 to 1981.

I am reliably informed that he was a very quick-witted and colourful character. He enjoyed the company of other politicians and gave a lifelong commitment to the people of Connemara and to the people of Clifden in particular. He was a businessman with many business interests who employed a large number of people in Clifden. We remember the late John M. Mannion today.

We also remember former Senator Pat Codd. He was a politician who hailed from Enniscorthy, County Wexford. I did not know him personally but I have heard his memory being eulogised by many colleagues in my party in recent months. Curiously, he won a by-election — a by-election is a very strange animal in this House because the result is known before the ballot takes place, assuming the Government of the day has a majority in the House. He was selected in April 1975 to win a casual vacancy in this House. It says a lot about the former Senator that the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, asked him to contest that by-election. He was a Member of this House from April 1975 until 1977. He was a councillor and former chairman of Wexford County Council.

He had a deep interest in and a passion for agriculture and for rural affairs. He spoke in the House on many occasions on those matters. Colleagues have informed me that in recent years he virtually dedicated his life to charity work and to Self-Help Ireland and raised large sums of money for that organisation and for other charities in the south east. I offer our deepest sympathy to his wife, Evelyn, to his sons, Mark and John and his daughters, Mary, Sarah and Joan. We remember his commitment and the commitment of Senator Mannion to this House when they served here in such a distinguished way for many years.