Eoghan Harris (Independent)

As we all heard and know, Senator Kieran Phelan was probably the most well liked Member of this House. Being well liked is not enough in politics, however. One must have character too. Senator Kieran Phelan had the same toughness and grit of character behind his affability. It was a toughness of spirit that he shared with the woman he helped to put in Dáil Éireann, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. They were two of a kind.

I did not know him very well but I had to get to know him on one occasion when I, along with Senators O'Toole and Norris and others, wanted to get the case of second lieutenant Dónal de Róiste reviewed. The Dáil had failed repeatedly to do so. I knew that if I did not get Senator Kieran Phelan to support it that it was doomed. I went to him, laid out the case and he considered it. People have said he was a loyal member of Fianna Fáil. He may have been but he was only loyal to Fianna Fáil and to any party if it was loyal to the country and the conscience of the people. Conscience came first with Kieran Phelan. He had to pro forma defend the State's position but he prefaced it with a personal statement which made it quite clear that he felt there was a case to answer in regard to second Lieutenant de Róiste and that he was not happy justice had been fully done. As was significant and typical of him, he seized upon second Lieutenant de Róiste's mother's sorrow as his point of departure and picked up her letter and read it to us and made it clear where he stood. In that moment he stood above party and stood for justice. It is no small thing. We can all look back on our record in this House but very few of us can say they contributed to rectifying an injustice. Senator Kieran Phelan and his family can be proud that he stood his ground and did his best to get Lieutenant de Róiste's case re-opened.

Apart from that, he was a very boyish person. He retained his youthful vigour and that sense of innocence. He was a very sweet man and he was very much a man's man; women liked him, he was the kind of man that men and women liked. One would follow him anywhere.

I always judge a mature man by what kind of a father he would make. I say to myself: "I wonder what kind of a father he is?" I met his family today; I met his wife, Mary, his mother, Delia, and his daughters, Fiona, Brenda, Martina and Aisling. I looked at them and saw that they have poise and confidence that argues that he was a great father, a great husband. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam usual.