David Norris (Independent)

I am honoured to be given this opportunity to speak in tribute to the memory of the late Senator Kieran Phelan and to extend my sympathy to his family. The Cathaoirleach underlined one element of today's proceedings when he spoke about the unusually large number of people who want to speak in his memory. These things unfortunately are part of life. We meet from time to time and speak in memory of colleagues but I can never remember where things were so heartfelt, where there were such a large number of people wishing to speak and where both the distinguished Visitors Gallery and the other Gallery were filled to capacity with people were waiting outside. That in itself without any words of ours speaks eloquently of the esteem in which the late Kieran Phelan was held.

I did not know him terribly well. I knew him from this Chamber but I greatly enjoyed his company. I was here on the day he died and was one of those very shocked by the sudden nature of his death. It was a quite dramatic and extraordinary thing and people were quite stunned.

I attended the removal and this is one of the things one does in political life. I tend to avoid funerals as much as possible but I was at the removal and it was also unusual because often it is done on a formal basis. It is done for form sake and that is the reason I avoid political funerals as much as possible but on this occasion there was a real sense of genuine shock and of personal loss.

I only really knew him from this Chamber but we used to meet, particularly during a vote when we would have five minutes, and we would have a chat and there was a connection. First, I would gravitate towards him because he was a man of genial humour and of considerable courtesy and warmth but he had something else that nobody else in this Chamber can claim, he was a Laois man, and that was my connection to him. During a vote we could talk about personalities and townlands nobody else in this Chamber would know. I recall telling him how I loved listening to the GAA results on a Sunday night, and one would hear Camross, Castletown and Ballacolla. He also knew places that my late uncle used to talk to me about full of leprechauns such as Ballyhuppahane. I doubt if there is one other person in this Chamber who has ever heard of Ballyhuppahane but according to my uncle it was full of leprechauns. I remember discussing that with Senator Phelan and we had a great laugh over it one day here in the Chamber.

His family were one of the distinguished families of Laois going way back. If one looks at McLysaght and the history of the Queen's county of Canon O'Hanlon, one will find there the records of his ancient and distinguished sept who played such a significant role in the development and history of ancient kingdom of Ossory. He was unusual also in that he possessed ordinary, decent and modest virtues. He had a sense of decency and integrity. We tend to think of these virtues as ordinary but I wonder how ordinary they are in political life. There was no doubt in the case of Kieran Phelan that he exemplified these and that they were not a facade put on for electoral purposes. They were an expression of his deepest personality.

I shall certainly miss him. I find it difficult to believe he is no longer here. When I look across the Chamber I can almost see his shape on that seat. Regrettably we will not be seeing that shape in that seat but we have the memories of a good and decent man, a loyal son of Laois and somebody who will continue to live in the hearts and minds of his family and of his colleagues here in Leinster House.