Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

Unlike Senator Yeats, Seán O'Leary died before his time. Those of us who knew him from being in the heart of Fine Gael politics for more than 30 years prior to his appointment to the Bench were extremely saddened to hear of his death at Christmas. I was in The Lough Church on St. Stephen's night with other colleagues and the outpouring of love and affection for him from the legal and political communities, friends and family was there to be seen. He was truly a great man.

In recent times he thought about retiring and spending time with his children and grandchildren. However, this terrible illness occurred shortly before Christmas and he was taken from his beloved family. It is a tragic loss for the O'Leary family and everyone who knew Seán O'Leary.

I got to know him during the 1992 general election campaign. I had just left college and my first job was to work for the Fine Gael party as an alleged apparatchik. I was given a Nissan Micra and one of the extremely large mobile telephones about half the size of one's arm which existed at the time. My job was to travel around the country with our party leader and take calls from Seán O'Leary. I recall him ringing four or five times every day with his distinctive Cork city voice — which unlike the Cork county voice is shrill and to the point — asking to "get me so and so" and one got the person for him. He was very much to the point and, as the Leader stated, practical. I got to know him very well during that campaign.

Since the foundation of the party, no one in Fine Gael commanded the same respect in terms of his approach to elections and the advice he gave the party leadership and candidates. His knowledge of the system of proportional representation by single transferable vote was second to none. On election night, the person to listen to on radio was Seán O'Leary because he called it first and always got it right. He was the quintessential national handler.

It was right and proper of Dr. Garret FitzGerald, on assuming the office of Taoiseach in the early 1980s, to appoint Seán O'Leary to this House. He was not a candidate or on the way up or down. His knowledge of politics and sheer practicality required him to be a Member of this House and what a distinguished Member he was. It is worth stating that even though he was a loyal Fine Gael Member of the House during most of the 1980s, he lost the party whip when he voted against a criminal justice Bill.