Brendan Ryan (Labour)

On my own behalf and that of the Labour Party Senators, I offer genuine condolences to the family of Charlie Haughey, and particularly to his son, who is a Member of the other House, and for whom most of us have considerable respect and regard. I also extend sympathy to the Fianna Fáil Party which has lost a figure of stature and charisma, one of the dominant figures of Irish politics.

Like many of us on this side of the House I am conscious of things I may have said but I ought also to respect this man's achievements. He progressed from a background of limited, if not no, privilege to leadership of the country. Whatever one thought of his shortcomings, which we will leave to others and to another day, he had a quality of leadership which was sometimes astonishing in its capacity to deal with the realities presented to him, which often differed from those for which he might have wished.

If one was not too close to him he was an easy man to like. Those who worked very closely with him were a little afraid of him. For those of us who knew him less formally he was an easy man to whom to talk, one who, more than many recognised, had a fairly sharp wit and a good sense of humour, capable of being expressed in a phrase or two.

Mar a dúirt an Seanadóir O'Toole, bhí an-bhaint aige le Chorca Dhuibhne. Ba chóir dos na ndaoine a cheap nach raibh sé dáiríre faoin cheantar sin tíre éisteacht le pobal an cheantair. It does not matter what the politics of people there were, they knew that his affection for that part of Ireland was genuine. His affection for the arts was genuine, as was his sense of Irishness. He dealt with the illness he had to confront for the past 11 years with considerable dignity and openness. In many ways he lived out a long illness under public scrutiny with dignity and pride.

Some time in the distant future the Succession Act, which he introduced as Minister for Justice, will be regarded as the most radical legislation he introduced. It transformed the rights of women such that certain things could never again be done to them. He had, and his family has, good reason to be proud of his legacy in other respects. Tá sé imithe uainn anois. Go luath, tosnóidh na staraí ag caint faoi agus beidh na leabhair á scríobh agus an taighde ar siúl. Nuair a scrúdófar a shaol iomlán, beidh lochtanna agus easpanna ann, ach beidh rudaí eile ann a bheidh in ár gcuimhne go fad téarmach, rudaí a dhein agus a thosnaigh sé agus an tslí a dhéileáil sé leis an saol mar a bhí sé, cé go mb'fhéidir nach é an saol mar a theastaigh uaidh go mbeadh sé. Ar dheis láimh Dé go raibh a anam.