Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

To Terry's family, my deepest sympathies are with them. I did not know Terry like many of my colleagues in the House. I only met him in 2014 after a rather controversial by-election where I stole a Fine Gael seat. When I was moving into my office, Terry was one of the first people to come in and congratulate me. It was rather strange because I expected a bit of hostility and I found there was none. Politicians are odd people. When the battle is over, it is over and it is time to move on.

I have one particular story about Terry and his generosity. I was elected onto the cultural and educational panel. We were in the Dáil bar one night. Senator O'Sullivan was there as were Terry and Senator Maurice Cummins. The three boys set about explaining to me how I was on the wrong panel if I wanted to be re-elected and that I needed to move from the cultural and educational panel onto the labour panel. Terry, being a great trade unionist, was explaining to me how with my background in trade unionism, I would have no difficulty getting the nomination. We had a great chat that night and, several times over the coming year, Terry would ask had I done anything about getting that nomination and how I would need to be prepared for the next election. So I did move onto the labour panel and the election came. I won the seat and Terry lost his.