Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to represent my party to pay a well-deserved tribute to a great friend and colleague, former Senator Terry Brennan. I welcome Aileen and all of Terry's family and friends to the Chamber. It is a sad occasion but it is a proud one as well.

Everyone who met Terry liked and admired him. He had a terrific personality and he was a loyal and dependable man. Terry and I were first elected as councillors on the same day in 1985. There are not too many of the class of 1985 still in harness but we became fast friends from the first day we met. Terry was an outstanding councillor and was well known throughout the country, not only in County Louth. As Senator McGahon has pointed out, he was a great vote-getter and a celebrity, even as a councillor. There were a lot of celebrity councillors going around at the time but Terry topped them all. He was also a fervent trade unionist through his work in the Electrical Trades Union, which stood to him later on when it came to running for the Seanad.

Terry had a great pride in his county and in his hometown of Carlingford. There used to be an annual heritage conference in that beautiful spot and Terry and his great friend, former Councillor Peter Savage, were great ambassadors for the region, encouraging councillors from all over Ireland to spend an enjoyable few days with them by the sea. Terry had a knowledge about things that was extraordinary, including on politics, history, sport and business. He had a great curiosity about all these and he wanted to learn something new every day. He was experienced in many walks of life and he was a great man to go to for advice. It did not matter whether you were Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil or whatever, Terry would put you right if he could and by all signs he was loved by all sides in this House and the Lower House.

Terry's abiding political concern was peace on this island. Like his late colleague, Brendan McGahon, Terry had no truck with the men of violence and he was fearless in that regard, for which I admired him greatly. The Good Friday Agreement was his touchstone, and he did what he could to promote peace and understanding with those of a different tradition. His other major priority was his family, including his loving wife, Aileen, and Tanya, David and Bobby. Aileen, Tanya and David are with us and I know Bobby is looking in. Terry always brought them into the conversation and he had tremendous pride in all of them. He especially looked forward to his annual trip, as Senator McGahon mentioned, to the Masters Tournament in Georgia. After a hectic week here he always looked forward to going home, back to Aileen and the family. Terry was a loyal Fine Gael man. He supported the current leader faithfully and he had a special relationship with former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. They enjoyed each other’s company and they were lifelong friends.

Terry and I had a few bad habits; we drank, smoked and backed horses. Even though we were on the same electoral panel for the Seanad, we got on like a house on fire. My fondest memory of Terry was the time he and I and his great friend, former Senator Pat O’Neill from Kilkenny, went to Japan on a parliamentary trip. What happened in Japan stays in Japan but all I can say is we applied ourselves assiduously to our duties but we also managed to have great fun. Terry totally endeared himself to our Japanese hosts. On a personal note, I found Terry to be a real friend when I needed one. At a time when I was not at all well, he could not do enough to encourage and assist me in every way possible. I would like his family to know just how much his support meant to me and to my wife, Madeleine, and family. Ar dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam dílis.