Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I extend my sympathies to the Quinn family. I moved to Dublin in 1995 and had never met Feargal Quinn, although I had heard of him. From 1995 to the present day, Feargal Quinn has been responsible for gatherings in my house on a Saturday or a Sunday when we sit down and enjoy the Superquinn sausages. He developed a sausage that cannot be beaten, although I do not know if my cardiologist would necessarily agree with him. The next time I thought of Feargal Quinn was during the debate to save the Seanad. I never dreamed that I would, one day, be sitting beside the icon himself but he saved the Seanad and, for those of us who wanted to enter this House, he created an opportunity to do so. Before I took my seat, one of my sisters remarked to me, "Oh my God, you are going to meet Feargal Quinn and David Norris". They are two icons. Feargal was a small man in stature but he was a giant in Irish society, a massive man.

I would love to have the stories about Feargal Quinn which some of my colleagues have but I only knew him for a very short time. I had the privilege of speaking on two of his Bills. One was on the awards system for Irish citizens and the other was on drones. I taught in information technology for 25-odd years and drone technology was really exciting to me. One would wonder why somebody would one want to condemn it but he convinced me, in just 15 minutes, of the dangers of these devices, which can sneak around people's back gardens, look in house windows and do various other things, so I spoke in favour of his Bill.

What stands out for me is the humanity of the man. He could talk to a checkout operator or to a king - it really did not matter and he treated them all the same. The great shame is that his wonderful books are not among the marketing textbooks in our universities, because he could teach a lot to some of the marketing authors I read. When my first granddaughter was born, Feargal got word of it and stood up behind me in the Seanad to congratulate me, although I had nothing to do with it. He welcomed my granddaughter to the world and we will cherish, forever, the little video clip of him doing so. It will mean an awful lot to my granddaughter in years to come when she understands the man, the icon, who welcomed her into the world. In the last speech he made in this House, he took a few seconds to mention me and, for that, I will be extremely grateful. I am terribly sorry I did not get to know the man better. I never dreamed I would sit beside such an icon, have tea with him and listen to what he had to say. We will miss him and Ireland will miss him. The stores around the country to which Senator Boyhan referred, and which Feargal Quinn went to reshape and relaunch as retail outlets, will also miss him. Nothing we can say today will replace the vacant slot in his family but there are families which gather every Saturday or Sunday morning to have a Superquinn sausage, though maybe not quite as good as the ones he originally developed.