Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I pay a warm tribute to a near neighbour of mine in County Clare who tragically lost his life in the Ethiopian Airlines crash last Sunday morning. Michael "Mick" Ryan, was an official with the United Nations. He was a qualified engineer. He worked on the UN World Food Programme for the past few years. He worked extensively in Africa over the past decade or so. He had been in the most ravaging and terrible conditions that face humanity in this world. He worked in Ethiopia, Kenya and Afghanistan. He worked in Bangladesh with the Rohingya refugees, probably the most deprived people on our planet. Michael was a person who wanted to change the world and believed that one person can make a difference in helping change the world and shape our future in a better way for all of humanity. He practised what a lot of people preach. He put his life in danger by going into the worst possible scenarios.He worked on flood relief projects. He worked in areas where there were landslides. When he came home to Cork, where he was married and had two children, he gave advice on dealing with flood relief there. It is absolutely shocking for the people of Ennistymon and Lahinch that Michael has lost his life in such tragic circumstances. However, we and his family can be extremely proud of the enormous contribution he has made to this world. I would like to express my sympathies and the sympathies of the people of County Clare to his wife, his two young children, his mother, Christine, his sisters, Siobhán and Christine, his brother, Tiarnán, all his friends and family, the people he worked with in the UN, his friends and family in Clare and Cork and indeed the people he helped throughout the world who will mourn his loss.