Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in paying tribute to Big Tom McBride from Oram, County Monaghan. I express my sympathies to his family in Oram and Castleblayney. He was predeceased by his wife, Rose, a short number of weeks ago. Those who were closest to him have said that he never recovered from her death.

He initially came to fame with the song, "Gentle Mother," and went on to have numerous hits, including "Four Country Roads to Glenamaddy", and more recently "Going Out The Same Way You Came In". I say to his family that he is not going out the same way he came in. He brought many nights of joy to tens of thousands of people nationally and internationally, and particularly, as Senator Conway-Walsh noted, in our neighbouring island of Britain to where our diaspora fled in the 1950s and 1960s.

I wish to clarify the record for Senator Ó Ríordáin, who suggested he got his name from Monaghan football. He did not; he got the name "Big Tom" from a very famous Cavan footballer and a player from my own club, Cornafean, County Cavan, the winner of three senior all-Ireland titles and one national league medal, Big Tom O'Reilly, who incidentally was also a politician.

I again express my sympathy to the McBride family, to the people of Castleblayney, in particular, and County Monaghan, and to his many thousands of supporters in the country.

I echo Senator Craughwell's comments on the Defence Forces. Senator Craughwell, I and others have raised this very serious issue in the House on many occasions. Our Defence Forces are in crisis and we need an urgent debate with the Taoiseach. It is not appropriate for the Minister of State to come before the House; the Taoiseach needs to come before the House to outline his plans to rectify this serious situation for all sectors of the Defence Forces. It is a sad day for us, as an independent nation, that if we are to be invaded we can only be invaded by appointment. That is how ludicrous the situation at the moment is. We need to have that discussion.