Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Robbie Gallagher. The GP issue has been brought up with me regularly in Limerick also. It is a real concern and is worthy of debate because perhaps we need to look to a new model of GP services delivery.

I wish to speak today about Liam O'Flynn. It is important to remember Liam O'Flynn, who passed away last week. He was particularly close to my heart because when we lived in England in the 1970s, the emigrant experience was much tougher for my parents back then and for people of that generation. They would not get home to Ireland that often, maybe once a year if they were lucky. The music of Liam O'Flynn, and especially on the first album Prosperous, by Christy Moore - which is a Planxty album in all but name - really spoke to those people and it resonated with that generation. Like so many others, I followed Liam O'Flynn's career with huge admiration. I was lucky enough to be at the Planxty reunion concert in 2004. When the sound of Liam's uilleann pipes came soaring in at the beginning the huge cheer that went up from the audience was completely spontaneous. It spoke of the huge admiration for the splendour of his work. It is very important to mark the passing of this man. Liam O'Flynn worked with Seamus Heaney and with Shaun Davey. A piece of work by Liam O'Flynn is a song written by Shaun Davey called Winter's End. It is from a 1993 album called Out to An Other Sideand I contend that it is the most magnificent piece of music ever written. It is important to commend the work of Liam O'Flynn and remember the great man who passed away last week.