John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

I welcome to the House the many friends, colleagues and family members of former Senator Willie Farrell and wish to be associated with the words of sympathy extended to them. The relationship between the late Willie Farrell and me dates back to the early 1980s when County Leitrim re-joined the same constituency as County Sligo. At that time, we had the benefit of Willie's wise counsel on many occasions. I and former Deputy Matt Brennan, who is present in the Gallery, benefited from Willie's wisdom, sometimes quietly in the ballot box, which was very important because we always needed a few extra votes to survive. I very much appreciated that.

Willie served his apprenticeship on Sligo County Council before entering the Seanad. Anyone who enters either House having served their apprenticeship on a local authority will have a good grounding for continuing to represent their people at this level.

Willie did a tremendous job for disabled people by showing that a handicap is not a handicap unless one wants to make it one. That was his contribution. He never considered the accident which caused his disablement as anything other than one of the things that happens in life. One gets up and moves on to the next stage.

North County Sligo has a proud record in terms of service to this House and Willie Farrell did justice to that record. The late Eugene Gilbride also served the area in my early days. Councillor Barry, who replaced Willie at local authority level, and Senator MacSharry, who is the only Fianna Fáil Oireachtas Member in north County Sligo, carry on the tradition Willie established. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.