Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I ask Members to excuse me as I am suffering with a cold. I will have to keep better hours. On behalf of my party, I express the fullest of sympathy on the death of Senator Kate Walsh. I can only describe Kate as a sweetheart of a woman. That is exactly what she was. Everything Senator Dardis said is correct. She had a smile for everyone no matter how down she might have been, and there must have been several days when she felt down. For everybody to whom she spoke, the smile was there. It was the most amazing thing, lighting her up and warming everybody to whom she spoke.

She was a community activist in the correct meaning of that phrase. We often hear that a particular person is a community activist, but this may be a slightly suspect description. Senator Kate Walsh was a community activist in the roundest and fullest sense of that description. Living on the main street of Celbridge, her doorbell rang incessantly and she answered it incessantly. I advised one young couple who moved to Celbridge from Athlone to call to her. They did so one night at 9 p.m. and she brought them into her home and attended to their query, which was subsequently resolved. She did all this herself and was not surrounded by programme managers or secretaries. She was simply Kate Walsh, community activist, who looked after people.

I recall a magical afternoon in her company on Wednesday, 12 November 2003 when she invited me to the St. John of God institution in Celbridge for a general discussion with the membership of that facility. Kate lit up the assembly and I was proud to have had the opportunity to accede to her request in going to Celbridge and being in her company for that length of time.

She was a formidable political person even before she entered this House, recording a huge vote — some one and a half quotas — in the local elections. This was not easily done, especially for a female, but she achieved it because almost everybody who left their homes to vote that day voted for Kate Walsh. They did so because they knew her, had been to see her, dealt with her and loved her. The Progressive Democrats Party was lucky that a person of Kate's calibre joined it. This is not to say that all members of that party are not of the highest calibre, but Kate shone like a candle among everybody else. This was because of her innate goodness. One can be as hospitable, engaging, funny, adaptable and nice as can be. Above all, however, she was fundamentally a very good woman and a good person. This goodness spilled out of her to everyone else with whom she dealt. That is a lovely accolade. We all would like to be remembered as such.

I heard her speak about her late husband during debates on two Garda Síochána Bills. She was so proud of him because he was a member of what she correctly called the highest force in the land. Whether in an informal or formal debate, she always fiercely defended the integrity and behaviour of the Garda Síochána. It was sad for her to be left a widow at a young age but she went on with her life and with what her late husband would have wished her to continue doing.

She left a brother, John, and two sisters, Noreen and Ann. We offer our sympathies to them and to her huge circle of friends, not only in Celbridge but throughout Kildare. However, it is to the wider political family of the Progressive Democrats in particular that we offer our sympathies today. That party has lost a true and valiant member. When she was not blessed with a family, her political family became her family. What Senator Dardis and the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, have said in regard to the love, respect and understanding they had for Kate Walsh has spilled out of all that. I thank the Deputy Leader who called me very early in the morning after he got the sad news about her. I reflected on her for a while and thought we will be all the poorer in this House for her passing. The last Member who died in office was Senator Paddy McGowan. Accordingly, we have made arrangements for all those Members who wish to pay tribute to her.