Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of some of the other people who are yet to make contributions, and I will try not to replicate what has already been said. It is very important that we acknowledge all of our visitors today, including Mary Hanafin, John Hanafin, Des's wife, Mona, and their three grandchildren, MaryClaire, Darragh and John, along with Deputy Jackie Cahill, who is here from Des's native Thurles. Carrying on from what Senator Ardagh said, I had a particular connection with Mary Hanafin who, like John, is a legacy of Des's great political involvement. When I was starting off as a councillor, Mary Hanafin was the local Deputy for a significant chunk of my electoral area, and she was also a Minister. I think I was the only councillor in the country with three Cabinet Ministers in his area because we had Seamus Brennan, Tom Kitt and Mary Hanafin, who were all together at the Cabinet table at one stage. It is a great tribute to Des that both of his children followed him into public life, as did his nephew Seamus, who served as cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council last year and who is a serving councillor.

What some people might not be so aware of is Des was a past pupil of Blackrock College. He was a boarder there. He followed his three brothers to the school. He was very much influenced by his time there and by the ethos of the school. It was a huge influence on his values and beliefs over time. He found it particularly intriguing that when he went back to Blackrock in later years to canvass on behalf of his daughter outside the local church and in the general area, he met many other past pupils of Blackrock College. I was not aware of this until relatively recently.

Des had a very distinguished career in the Seanad. To be fair, he was also one of the youngest councillors and one of youngest cathoairligh of North Tipperary County Council as it was at the time. He was there before he was even 30. He spent almost 50 years in public life. A very small fraction of a vote was what lost him his seat on the one occasion on which he lost out, but he persevered and was back here for a distinguished period subsequently.

There will be other tributes to Des later and I do not want to take from other people's contributions. However, he was somebody who had his own difficulties and Mary certainly has acknowledged at many events that he had at difficult time with alcohol in his earlier years. It meant he was very non-judgmental. Even though he was very involved with the pro-life movement and the anti-divorce sentiment of the moment, he was not judgmental of other people. He had strong views, opinions and beliefs, but he understood people who disagreed with him and he did not judge them. It is always interesting and exciting in politics to have people who have very strong beliefs. One might not have agreed with his views, but they were there. He was passionate about the particular subjects with which he was involved.

Des was also a loyal member of Fianna Fáil. He was one of the few people left in the country who was elected to public life when Éamon De Valera served as Taoiseach. His father was one of the founders of the party. Des was a significant person who, after a particular era of fundraising in the 1960s, came in and, as a significant fundraiser, had a very much more open and transparent way of raising money for the Fianna Fáil Party. He gave an awful lot to public life, national life, Tipperary and particularly to his family, Mona, John, Mary, his brothers and their families and his grandchildren, MaryClaire, Darragh and John. It is nice that we are honouring him today and that his family, along with their local Fianna Fáil Deputy, are all here to join us.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Acting Chairman for the fact we have been given an hour in which to pay tribute to a massive figure in public life. Very few people will ever make 30 years service in the Seanad. Des is one of the top ten Senators in the history of the State in terms of service. It is a record many of us would like to emulate but few of us, I am sure, will do so.