Alex White (Labour)

I join my colleagues in welcoming the Taoiseach to the Seanad this afternoon. I assure the Taoiseach that the atmosphere in this House is not always as calm as it may seem today. We have had our less peaceful moments here, even in recent weeks. We welcome the Taoiseach here and take this opportunity to wish him well in the future.

When I was trying to reflect on when I first heard the name "Bertie Ahern", I was brought back to my youth. Like Senator Boyle, I was 12 or 13 when I became aware of the man who was to become the Taoiseach. At the time when I was growing up, not too far from where the Taoiseach grew up, I had a keen interest in politics and current affairs. As young lads do, I used to have arguments about such matters with some of my friends who lived on the same road. I was a strong supporter of the Labour Party, even in those days. There was one guy who was fairly quiet, but with whom I could not get any measure of agreement. He would murmur something when we were having our initial discussions, before coming back to me the following day armed with many arguments illustrating why I was wrong and he was right. After this had happened three or four times, I decided to ask him where he was getting his inspiration from, 24 hours later. He told me he used to consult a friend of his in Drumcondra, Bertie Ahern, with whom he used to play football and do some work for Fianna Fáil. It is obvious that the Taoiseach inspired many young guys during that time. Some of the Taoiseach's leadership qualities and managerial skills, which have been much remarked upon over recent weeks, were probably honed in those years when he managed the All Hamptons team.

I am honoured to wish the Taoiseach well on behalf of the Labour Party in this House. His career has been an enormously successful one, without parallel in this country in the modern era. Other Senators have made points about his contribution to the Lisbon treaty and the North. I will come back to the North in a minute. Politicians in other parties, and perhaps in Fianna Fáil, can only marvel at the Taoiseach's incredible attention to detail. He seems to manage to be in many places at the same time. When I ran in Dublin South in last year's general election, my brother rang me from down town one Saturday morning to ask me the time at which we were going out canvassing. When I suggested that we should go out at11 a.m., on the basis that Saturday morning tends to be quite slow, he asked me if I was joking. He said he would call over to me immediately to get started because the Taoiseach had already called to his door, even though it was just 9.10 a.m. His ability to canvass and have his finger on the pulse locally while at the same time being involved in momentous national and international political events is truly astonishing. The Taoiseach's style was also commented on. Again, one can only stand back and wonder at his ability to turn adversity to his own advantage. I find it extraordinary.

I do not want to introduce any note of adversity into the debate but I believe it was Deputy Pat Rabbitte who stated that politics in this country may have reached the stage where the only central issue is who will dance with Fianna Fáil. It seems to be in the minds of some commentators. It is a pity if it is the case and I state that with all generosity to the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and my friends in Fianna Fáil. No country can afford to have its politics defined solely and forever by one political party. We as a society and a community need to understand this.

In response, the Taoiseach might state it is up to the Opposition parties to come up with a coherent alternative set of ideas, policies and proposals for the Irish people. This is right and I agree with it. It is what democracy is all about. No opposition can expect to remove a government simply because it has been there for so long. This is not a good enough basis for putting any government out of power. I freely accept this. However, I have a difficulty with big church politics or, if I may say so, big tent politics. I do not believe it will serve well the democracy the Taoiseach believes in so much.

I will finish my remarks by discussing the peace process because nobody can take from Bertie Ahern the extraordinary achievement for which he is responsible in respect of the North. The image of the bodies in the ditch announced on the nine o'clock news every night of the week when I was a young lad 20 or 30 years ago is gone from our public life. It is not an exaggeration but it is a bit of a cliché which must be repeated that there are people alive today who would not otherwise be were it not for the work of Bertie Ahern and others who brought the peace process to the stage it reached. It is important we reflect on this.

One of more unpleasant aspects of the 1990s was the fact that politicians such as Bertie Ahern, Dick Spring, Albert Reynolds and John Bruton had to withstand a major level of attack from some quarters for what they were doing. Sometimes they were told they were naïve for talking to Sinn Féin and that they were crossing a line they should not have crossed. They stood up for what they were doing and kept calm. They spoke to people to whom perhaps they did not rejoice in speaking. However, they did so because in the words of Fergus Finlay, they knew the principle of the penny candle applied. This meant the peace process talks were not worth a penny candle without the involvement of Sinn Féin.

During recent days I have been reminded of this stance while observing what Jimmy Carter is doing in the Middle East. He stated precisely the same about Hamas. Talks are not worth anything without Hamas whether we like it or not and many of us do not like it given what was perpetrated. Those talks will not come to a successful conclusion until someone some day talks to Hamas. We could have stated 15 years ago that the talks on the North would not come to fruition and be successful unless someone spoke to Sinn Féin. This is what was done and we all owe a large debt to the Taoiseach for the major success which flowed from it. Others were involved also but this is an important occasion on which to honour the Taoiseach's achievement.

I wish the Taoiseach well in his address to the Houses of Congress in the United States next week. I also wish him well on a personal level. I extend heartfelt best wishes to him and his family on his retirement from his current position.