Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Senator Norris has already spoken on behalf of the Independents but I did not want to let this opportunity pass without expressing my memories of Nuala. I knew the family, and her father, way back in the 1950s. When I met Nuala, I did not realise at that stage she was the daughter of her father. I came to know her and the family, including Garrett, Michael and others. There is a lovely quote which I have often heard and used before: "Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can't, you're right." The difference was that Nuala believed she could change things. However, she changed them in a manner different from the way many others would have changed them and she did so with humour and by getting people who liked to be in her company involved. She was committed to the things in which she believed. She believed very much in those who were not getting a fair deal in the Ireland of the 1970s and 1980s. She focused, in particular, on the position of women and we have been reminded today of some of the things she did.

I wish to touch on another aspect of her life, that is, the family she reared. She was very proud of them and with good reason. I was surprised to hear Senator Fitzgerald state it was 11 months since she had died. I had not realised that length of time had passed because it seems she is still a part of our lives. What I remember most about her is her sense of humour and smile. There was a sense that, even after she had left these Houses, she continued her commitment because there were other things she wished to do and other changes to bring about. We will remember her in this and the other House. I never served with her here, but I know those of us who knew her in those days and afterwards will remember her with great fondness. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.