Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with my colleague, Senator Clifford-Lee. To Mona, John, Mary, MaryClaire, Darragh and John Jnr., I extend my sincere sympathies. They can be extremely proud of Des Hanafin. Conviction politicians are very hard to find. I am sure he would be delighted to be here now, fighting the good fight again on behalf of the pro-life movement. Des fought many battles. I saw a statistic recently in a battle against the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. It concerned an advertisement by the pro-life campaign saying that there are 100,000 people alive today because of the ban on abortion. That is a legacy. He fought for that ban. I am sure he would be proud that the ban and the pro-life provision is still in our Constitution. It is there because of him and the campaign that he led.

Des was a sincere and honest conviction politician, a great statesman, and a great Irishman who loved all things Irish. He set a huge example and it was followed by Mary and John in their public service. It is not often that we have great examples of families following in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers into politics because people see the wear and tear on their father or mother and decide to avoid the life at all costs, yet he set such an example that his children embraced it. He was lucky to have Mona because she was his rock, like the Rock of Cashel. She was lucky to have him.I sympathise with her loss.