Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Like other Senators, I join in the tributes to our late friend and colleague, Peter Callanan. We shared certain things in common, not least the fact we were both elected to our respective county councils on the same day. As Senator Glynn said, I remember subsequently looking up some of the votes which people received and saw the huge support Peter received and continued to receive throughout his time there. That was a testament to his popularity and hard work in the area.

Subsequently, I got to know Peter while attending conferences, where he was always an articulate and intelligent contributor, but more so when we ended up on the same panel in the 1997 Seanad election. It is fair to say he was a formidable competitor. When I listened to Senator O'Donovan reminding us of the comments at mass that he was referred to as "Tippy Toes" because of his dancing skills, it would be fair to say that for those of us in his slipstream going to councillors - Peter had been there before us - the councillors we were visiting were as impressed with him as his dancing partners were with his dancing abilities. All his dancing partners were women.

In 2005 Senator Norris tabled the Civil Partnership Bill. I was the spokesperson on justice. Suffice to say, Peter was not at all impressed when he felt we might support the Bill. He came to me and subsequently it was agreed that we would leave it to rest on the Order Paper and that there would no vote one way or the other. I and some of my colleagues will miss him and his contributions to that debate in the next month or so.

As anyone who visited him knew, Peter was a man who had great pride in his family, as every Member here has testified. He also had great loyalty to his party and locality. Anybody who visited him could not but come away with an awareness of his breadth of knowledge on the history of the area, his republican ethos and his strong family and Christian values. In many ways he was an example to us and tá mé cinnte go bhfuil sé i measc na n-aingeal agus na naomh ar neamh.