Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming members of the Hayes family to the Visitors Gallery and thank them for being here. As the Cathaoirleach rightly said, the time that has elapsed since the sad passing of former Senator Maurice Hayes has allowed all of us and members of his family, in particular, to reflect on a life well lived as a public person but also as a dad and a grandfather. The words used to describe him included "diamond standard" and "a stalwart man of Down". In reflecting on and reading about his life we have to be grateful and thank his wife and family for allowing him to be the builder of bridges and seeker of consensus. We have to recognise that there are two traditions on the island. In Maurice Hayes' own family his dad came from the South and his mum from the North. They were the forerunners in building bridges.

It was appropriate that the Cathaoirleach led the acknowledgments as he served with Maurice Hayes, as did Senators Coghlan and Paddy Burke on our side of the House. He was a distinguished public servant who, as was said, was not given to speaking in this Chamber every day. However, when he did, Members listened in the 21st and the 22nd Seanad. As chairman of the National Forum on Europe and being involved in the Patten commission on policing in Northern Ireland, he was very proud of being a bridge. I am using the word a lot because that is what he was. He was a facilitator and a person interested in all of the people of the island, north, south, east and west.

Maurice Hayes was proud of his County Down roots. As someone involved in Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, I read his plan for the Down Gaelic Athletic Association which he saw come to fruition, not just with one all-Ireland title but a couple. There was also a conveyor belt of talent at under age level, leading on to senior level. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions and the GAA was one of our many conversational pieces. It was an interesting day when Cork beat Down in the 2010 all-Ireland final. For me as a member of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, I know that it took some ability for him, as a person who was both a player and an administrator, to put in place a plan and see it come to fruition. Really, it was a touch of genius. I was a member of the marketing committee at Croke Park. I often said that if we had done what they had done in County Down at the time and replicated it across the country, perhaps Dublin might not have won four in a row. That is, however, is a matter for another day.

At a difficult time in the country Maurice Hayes stood up and was involved as a public servant when it was most needed. That was the case, whether it was policing, the failed Executive or advising Mr. Brian Faulkner or others. He was always the voice and the contributor who tried to talk reason. We all valued his contribution. There is the cliché a life well lived. In the case of Maurice Hayes, it was as a public servant and a person who left a legacy. It was a lived legacy, a shared legacy, one to which he contributed handsomely. The challenge for all of us is to go back and read and reflect on the reports of the new community relations commission which he chaired at a very sensitive time in the North.

Mar fhocal scoir, Maurice Hayes was a gentleman who enjoyed good company, a man of intellect and integrity and a man who was fair and just. He had a deep sense of justice and admiration for people who were trying to make life better, no matter who they were or where they were from. He was also a sportsperson. Above all, I go back to the word I have used the most. He was that bridge-builder who today we rightly remember and whom we thank for a life well lived.