Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The first newspaper to hit the newsstands with the coverage of John Bruton's passing was quite fittingly his own local newspaper the Meath Chronicle, which hit the shelves in Meath at 6 p.m. last night and carried a front-page picture of the former Taoiseach and Meath man with the headline "Death of a Statesman". John Bruton was every bit a statesman who rose to the highest office in this land and served the people with great dignity and diligence.

The passing of a former Taoiseach is always a seismic moment in the 100-year history of our country. The passing of John represents the death of the tenth leader of our country. He left an indelible mark on politics in Ireland, Europe, the United States and most notably at home in County Meath. As Meath people, Senator Doherty and I know there was a deep sense of pride in December 1994 when he rose to the office of Taoiseach. Irrespective of one's political party or political beliefs, he was a nice man and it was the first and only time one of our own has risen to the highest office. History will judge his contribution on behalf of our nation kindly. Senators should not get me wrong. I know we in Fianna Fáil did everything we could to get rid of both John and Fine Gael as quickly as possible, including a young Shane Cassells in the summer of 1997 out campaigning to make sure that the Meath man whom we were proud of would be gone.

We are now in an era where people are turning away from public and political service because of the attacks on those of us who put our heads above the parapet by those who hide their identities shielded behind anonymous accounts. However, John Bruton conducted his political debates with dignity, without recourse to the toxic style of politics polluting public discourse today. Perhaps it was a different era, but it was an era where service came first - not spin but service.

I well remember the night of the heave against him 23 years ago. I was coming from a cumann meeting in Navan O'Mahony's and the televisions were on in the bar. I remember being particularly sad watching his emotional address on the plinth at 10 o'clock that night. Even in that moment when the knives had been wielded against him, he remained dignified right to the end. Rather than walk away from politics, he returned to Meath and continued his work as a TD.

I think about that summer of 2001 and that whole year because he ran again in 2002. I was a young councillor and it always stuck in my mind how every week John Bruton could be found in the hall in the main street in Navan, quite a distance from his own home base, conducting his clinic on a Monday night on the bread-and-butter issues of politics. This man who had mixed it with world leaders was as accessible to the local man and woman on the main street in Navan as he was to prime ministers. The sight of him in that clinic reminded me of the virtue of public service.

On a funny side, the local pub down the road used to always take great pride because the man came in and had his tea there before he went to do his clinic. It was Loughran's pub in Navan and the proprietors, Henry and Frank, always saw it as a great badge of honour that John would come in and take his tea in their hostelry. He was also the only man who went in there and ordered prawns for his tea. Nobody else in Navan went into that place and ordered prawns. I think on his first visit a run had to be made to the fishmongers to produce the tea.

I cannot claim to have known John on a personal level as Senator Doherty did. However, I have a small link to him in his timeline as I contested the by-election in 2005 caused by his resignation from the Dáil when he was made the European Union ambassador to the United States for a five-year term. It was a fitting way for a man of such great intellect to finish his political career. From the Dáil to the White House, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Trimgate Street, John Bruton was the same courteous, affable man no matter where you met him.Ireland has lost a statesman. To his wife, Finola; his children, Matthew, Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth; his sister, Mary, and his brother and our colleague, Richard, we extend our condolences. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.