Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am honoured to have the opportunity to pay a small tribute to the late former Senator Eamon de Buitléar, primarily because I had the pleasure to serve with him in the House between 1987 and 1989. Rather interestingly, when he first came to the Seanad, he did not sit in this august Chamber because its ceiling had all but collapsed at that time. Instead, he and the other Senators were relocated to the anteroom. It is also interesting that, in light of the size of the latter, all 60 Senators and the staff of the House could be accommodated there. Sittings were held in the anteroom for between 12 and 18 months and this was also my first experience of serving in the Upper House.

The late Eamon de Buitléar sat in Chamber itself when the ceiling had been restored and he made a number of major contributions here. One of his first contributions was on the Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, which dealt with the dreaded issue of fishing licences. That matter seems to have been consigned to history but it gave rise to major controversy at the time. One of his major contributions was to the debate An Blascaod Mór National Historic Park Act which was brought before the House by the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. It was one of those are occasions on which a Taoiseach came before the House. Rather than farming out responsibility to a Minister of State - as seems to have been the case with subsequent taoisigh - Mr. Haughey came before the House on occasions when legislation pertaining to his Department was being dealt with. Mr. Haughey made a number of inspired choices when nominating people to membership of the House. Not only did he nominate Eamon de Buitléar, he also put forward for membership Brian Friel, John Magnier and a number of other distinguished individuals who served here during his term of office.

I took the opportunity to read one of the late Eamon de Buitléar's contributions to the debate on the An Blascaod Mór National Historic Park Act, which primarily related to the Great Blasket Island, during which he stated that the first occasion on which he met Seán Ó Riada, the latter's only concern was that he and his wife and Mr. de Buitléar and his wife, Lailli, should repair to the Blasket Islands in order to repopulate them. Eamon de Buitléar indicated that he felt this was an unrealistic aspiration and that if he had gone to the Blaskets, the chances were that he would wake up one morning to news that Ó Riada had absconded. He also spoke on national heritage legislation and on a number of debates relating to heritage, primarily in the context of his area of expertise. At one stage, a debate took place in respect of the broadcasting of the proceedings of the Houses. It seems so long ago now but some of the then Members of the Upper House suggested that in the broadcasts of proceedings up to that point, the Independent Senators seemed to be attracting the lion's share of the coverage. Mr. de Buitléar made the observation that there were Independents in the House and that there were also real Independents in it. In other words, he saw himself as not only being independent of the party political system but also of the university Senators. He saw himself as a true Independent and obviously that was reflected in the contributions he made during his short time here.

Like previous speakers, I take this opportunity to convey my sympathies to Eamon de Buitléar's wife and five children. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.