Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are here today to pay tribute to Dr. Maurice Hayes, a former Senator. I warmly welcome Joan and Dr. Hayes's extended family who are here today for this very special occasion. I am not going to repeat altogether what many have said. Suffice it to say that he had a great love of sport, literature, music and all forms of arts, Irish culture and language. He was constantly quoting many great writers and had a great love of Heaney, Joyce and Wilde among many others. He loved literature, music and good company. He would cut people down pretty quick if they kept going on and on.

I received a telephone call from Maurice Hayes in 2009 when he asked me if I would be in Dún Laoghaire that day. I was not planning to be there but it was Maurice Hayes and he said he had something for me. I was more interested in finding out what he had. He brought me the book I have in my hand now, a combined volume of the work of the National Forum on Europe. As Senators and Dr. Hayes's family will know, this is a combination of various contributions to the forum of which I was a member. The National Forum on Europe was established in 2001 and lasted until 2008. There were more than 100 plenary sessions. I was on the steering committee, and very early on, Maurice met us and said it was important to take the work of the forum around the country. He was very much plugged into local communities and how different people have different perspectives on life, Europe, Northern Ireland politics and so on. He convinced us and, more importantly, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Taoiseach to spend money. We went around the various town halls. He tapped into people of all political hues and none and asked for their contributions. He was a committed European and I would be interested to hear what he would have to say about our current circumstances. Without writing history, we will know that Fine Gael did not take a seat on the National Forum on Europe for approximately two years.With his diplomatic skills he convinced the then new leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Enda Kenny, to join the forum. That was a particularly important day because it made the forum complete and it had been strange that a big party such as Fine Gael was not on the National Forum on Europe. That was the measure of the man and it showed his capacity to negotiate. He was a pragmatist and always saw the potential to bring people together. I cherish the book and I can get one for his family if they do not have a copy.

Maurice would solve disputes and he liked to get people to move on. He had a great fondness for Deputy McDonald and I remember him, at a steering committee meeting, insisting that everybody get an equal time for a contribution. He admired everyone and he went out of his way to facilitate everyone. At every lunch at the round table in Dublin Castle he would make a point of having different people at his table and he never sat with the same people twice. He kept a little note at the back of his book of whose turn it was to sit with him and that showed his attention to the little details.

He was acutely aware of the importance of the power of the media and he played a significant role as director of Independent News and Media. He contributed greatly to its publications and to others. He had a sharp wit and intellect and he always brought a newness and freshness to the angle of his story. We talk a lot about the press today but he was an advocate of free press and open and transparent media - both the print and broadcast media. This made the National Forum on Europe work because he briefed its members in an open way after every meeting.

I remember his great stories, his empathy and understanding of the Irish diaspora and his knowledge of the experience of Irish emigration to the United Kingdom and further afield to the United States of America. He was a fine man and an important man. He fully understood the importance of equal access to opportunities in education and ongoing training in life skills, something to which he was fiercely committed, as he was to the potential of the island of Ireland. People did not talk about it at that time but he never used the terms "Northern Ireland" or "the South of Ireland". Instead, he talked about the island of Ireland and its potential to unify people through arts, culture and music. I learned from him that if one won people's hearts one won their minds. One can have great political achievements by including people and bringing them along to break down suspicion.

I cannot but mention Maurice's great love for his wife and his family. He always remembered where he came from and he was rooted there. He had deep faith which was, as he said, always evolving and changing. It was always being challenged but he was never afraid to challenge. I admired him because he openly talked about his faith, which was not an issue for him at a time when it was an issue for many people to talk about their beliefs.

He was a man of justice and great compassion and fairness, which he brought to all his work. He was a truly proud Ulsterman and a truly proud Irishman. They say "Blessed are the peacemakers". He was truly blessed and his family are blessed to have had a wonderful father and a wonderful friend. We will remember him fondly in both Houses of the Oireachtas.