Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is with profound sadness that I rise this morning and share the passing of a dear friend and colleague of mine, and of this House, Brendan Daly. A former Minister, Deputy, and Senator, he was at all times a great representative of the people of Clare and, indeed, of Ireland. He had a distinguished career in the Seanad and in the Dáil and as a Government Minister. He was somebody who remained connected to his community and to rural life, all the while carrying out his duties, not only on behalf of his constituents but on behalf of the Irish people. He served in many offices as senior and junior Minister. He travelled extensively when he was Minister of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for overseas aid. He was ahead of his time when he talked about climate change. He attended one of the early Earth Summits in Rio and the importance of the changes we needed to make as a society was something I know played on his mind thereafter.

He served in various Departments, including the Department of Labour, the Department of Defence, the Department of the Taoiseach and the list is endless. However, it never changed the way Brendan lived his life or the way he represented people. He remained so in touch with his community. Notwithstanding the high offices he achieved and the global roles he had, and that he discharged his duties with such distinction, he remained humble. He had that wonderful capacity to have a laugh at himself and with others. He did not take himself too seriously while all the time being a really serious politician who delivered in spades for his community and his country.

He was one of the brightest people I have ever met in politics. You would not know that if you did not speak to him at length because he always had a disarming way about him. He always had a joke, a giggle and a laugh when you met him but when you got into the serious business with Brendan Daly, he had a really insightful mind. I have seen politicians come and go but I do not think there is anyone I have met in my 20 years in these Houses who was as insightful as Brendan Daly. I share that view with a number of people who served with him at Cabinet. They said the same. They said he was not always the one shouting the loudest or who talked the most, but when he spoke on an issue, he understood it and he understood the implications it would have.

For somebody who was not a legally-trained individual, he had a forensic and thorough legal mind when it came to the drafting and amending of legislation and seeing it through these Houses. I recall quite some time ago talking to a senior official in a Department he was in who reflected on what they thought they were getting when the new Minister arrived as opposed to what they actually got. They had not seen it with previous Ministers and they never expected him to take such an interest in the drafting of legislation. He was leagues ahead of his contemporaries when it came to drafting legislation and working through it. I saw that when he served in the Seanad with between 2002 and 2007. He was all the time preparing Bills. Others were running around doing parliamentary questions and doing the simple stuff such as getting an answer to something. Brendan was working through amendments on legislation without the advice of outsiders. He never needed it; he had that capacity himself.

It is a really sad day for me, I have to say. I spoke with his son and daughter this morning and they are heartbroken. It was not expected. He had been going through a period of ill health. He had a procedure yesterday and he did not come through it. To Ronan, Niamh and Iomhar, this House sends its best wishes at this difficult time.