Joe O'Toole (Independent)

On behalf of the Independent benches, I wish to be associated with the words that have been offered by the previous speakers. There will be another day when we can have a more formal tribute to Senator Callanan, but as of now, we should note that he was a man with politics in his bloodstream and Fianna Fáil in the marrow of his bones. He died in office in the way that he would have wanted. He was here up to the last - he was present in the House for the last vote on Thursday - and he did his duty doing what he loved.

I liked the way that he outfoxed his party leadership by managing to get re-elected in the past two elections despite their best efforts. We will miss the twinkle in his eye and the dry west Cork wit he brought with him.

To his wife, his family and his party, we on the Independent benches say ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. We will go into more detail on another day about his contribution.