David Norris (Independent)

I am very glad that I managed to get back in time to say a few words on the late Senator Willie Farrell. I knew him for many years in the House. We crossed swords regularly and we both enjoyed it. I would meet him in the corridor afterwards with a glint in his eye. Once or twice matters got fairly hot but we never lost our tempers and there was always a good degree of humour. That is what I appreciated about him.

He was very much of the country. He spoke about his educational background, the traditional Ireland from which he came which now, sadly, is almost entirely gone. I miss him, he thought I was a rogue and I thought he was another one. We got along fine. I have been in Sligo a couple of times recently. The last time, not so long ago, I sent a message to him and asked whether it might be possible to see him. By that time, however, he was in a nursing home, it was within a few weeks of his death and it was not appropriate for me to go and see him. I doubt if any message would have registered with him, in the event.

However, I have affectionate memories of Willie Farrell, and he certainly stood for certain values. He came to realise that I shared many of those values, but I approached them in a different way, and from a different period. I was slightly younger, I believe, but now I am about the oldest person around, so perhaps I am of another age. In any event, he will be remembered in this House.

The one thing we will not remember about him is that he lost his arm, because it never stopped him. However, it did impel him to work on important initiatives for people who were disabled, and he spoke effectively on these issues. This is not for me a sad, but a nostalgic day. I have affectionate memories of him and I should like to extend my sympathies to the family, which must still mourn his passing and feel his loss, although a number of months have passed since he died. I think kindly of him, and I am quite certain that this House will not see his like again, because even in Sligo they are not being made any more.