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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Feb 1993

Vol. 426 No. 6

Resignation of Member.

Before proceeding further with our business I have an announcement to make for the information of the House. I have this day received the following communication from Deputy Dr. John O'Connell:

Dear Ceann Comhairle,

On the advice of my medical consultant I have decided to retire from politics.

My medical condition is such that I could not continue to provide my constituents with the fulltime dedicated service to which I believe they are entitled.

Accordingly, I have no option but to resign my Dáil seat, effective as of today.

I would like to thank you for your unfailing courtesy to me over the years.

I would also like, through you, to thank members of all parties for similar courtesy shown to me, especially during my time as Minister for Health.

Kindest regards.

Yours sincerely,

John O'Connell

I am sure there will be great regret that Deputy O'Connell has had to retire from politics for medical reasons. I wish to thank him for the service he has given in this House and to his constituents for nearly 30 years. He had a distinguished career in medicine and in medical journalism. He was most active on behalf of his constituents, and he made an important contribution to this House as a backbencher and as Ceann Comhairle. He also served briefly in the European Parliament and the Seanad.

Last year he achieved his lifelong ambition to become Minister for Health. Over the past 12 months, and especially in today's budget, many of his initiatives have borne fruit under the partnership Government comprising the two parties, Fianna Fáil and Labour, with which he has been associated.

It is well known that he worked from early morning to late at night to achieve his objective of providing a better, more caring and cost-effective health service for all the people. He will be much missed. I wish him, on behalf of his colleagues in this House, a full recovery of his health so that he may enjoy with his family a long and happy retirement from politics.

I join with the Taoiseach in paying a well deserved tribute to Dr. John O'Connell on the announcement of his retirement from Dáil Éireann. As the House is aware, he is one of the longest serving Members, having been first elected in 1965. He has served with great distinction in public life in Ireland. As a member of the European Parliament he was elected with one of the largest votes ever obtained by any person standing for the Parliament in an Irish constituency. On two occasions he was elected as Ceann Comhairle and showed himself to be a man of innovation in that office.

It would be fair to say that the greatest achievement in Dr. O'Connell's political career, and in his own estimation, was his appointment as Minister for Health. To say that he sought that job and enjoyed it immensely would be an understatement. Everybody who came into contact with him at the time he became and acted as Minister for Health was conscious of the enormous enthusiasm he had for the job and for the cause of improving the health of the Irish people. It is a great misfortune for him and for this House that it is ill-health that has caused him to bring his active political career in the House to what must be seen by all as a premature end.

While I have never shared Dr. O'Connell's political convictions it would be fair to say that I speak not only on my own behalf but on behalf of all members of the Fine Gael party in saying that we all admired his tremendous enthusiasm for his work and for whatever cause he choose to serve. I know that the Ceann Comhairle, one who has had a long friendship with Dr. O'Connell, and has many experiences in common with him, will take the trouble to convey the sincere good wishes of all Members to Dr. O'Connell. We wish him every success and a speedy return to full health, and to active participation in the public life of this country in whatever way he deems appropriate.

On behalf of the Labour Party I wish to add my words of tribute to Dr. O'Connell. The news of his retirement has come as a shock to all Members. It is a tribute to Dr. O'Connell that he made the decision of his own volition in a time of ill-health to resign from the House rather than be unavailable to his constituents in Dublin South-Central.

I have known Dr. O'Connell for many years. He shared offices in this building with my father in the 1960s. He always struck me as a man of absolute courtesy and a hard working representative on behalf on his constituents.

We had our political differences. Dr. O'Connell left the Labour Party, but notwithstanding that there was never any ill-feeling. He always treated one with respect and there was always courtesy in one's dealings with him, whether he was in the Chair or a member of the Fianna Fáil party over the years.

It is a sign of Dr. O'Connell's character that he choose to resign rather than carry on as he could have done through his ill-health. I hope he has a speedy recovery to full health.

Like the other party leaders, I am surprised and saddened to hear that Dr. O'Connell is not in good health and that his ill-health has forced him to take the unfortunate step of resigning from the House. I have known him for many years as we have been Members of the House for almost the same period and I had the pleasure of serving in Government with him last year for nine or ten months. I found him a very helpful and courteous colleague in the Government and I found him helpful and courteous when he occupied the post of Ceann Comhairle.

He has had a long, active and distinguished career in this House and won the admiration and affection of many Members.

As Deputy Spring said, it is a mark of Dr. O'Connell that, in spite of the fact he was supporting a Government that has a majority of about 40, and could afford to take it easy and remain a Member of the House he choose not to stay. He should have our admiration and respect for the decision he made. I hope he will speedily return to full health and will have a long, happy and enjoyable retirement.

As with most Members, the announcement comes as a big surprise to me. I was not aware that Dr. O'Connell was seriously ill and I regret he has had to resign as a result. I first met Deputy O'Connell many years ago before either of us was a TD when we and a number of others sought housing for families living in tents on Mountjoy Square. It was a cause célébre at the time. The then Minister for Local Government, Mr. Kevin Boland, declared these were all anti-Christs who should under no circumstances be allowed onto our airwaves or television screens.

Deputy O'Connell was a man of great energy and conviction and he appeared always to have a mind of his own and to do as he thought fit. I appreciate that caused many problems for the parties he joined. Nevertheless that is what makes politics interesting. I wish him well and I hope he enjoys his retirement.

As the person who had the unique distinction of serving as his Minister of State for his 11 month tenure of office I very much regret that through ill-health Dr. O'Connell is unable to continue as a Member of this House. The Taoiseach has mentioned that on at least one occasion I felt it necessary to caution Dr. O'Connell on his workrate and the number of hours he spent each day working in his Department from early in the morning until late at night. I told him my opinion that it might have a detrimental effect on his health. I am sorry to see that ill health has caused him to leave this House.

In the short time I worked with him he devised a great number of excellent initiatives to improve the Department of Health and the delivery of the health services here. He was passionately committed to this cause throughout his public life and before. Therefore, I take this opportunity to say how sorry I am to see my good friend and colleague, Dr. O'Connell, retire from this House.

I join in the tributes to Dr. O'Connell. We contested two elections in the same constituency and I found him honourable and fair in the way he conducted his electoral business.

I also pay tribute to the amount of work he did for the people of Dublin South-Central over the years. He had a unique energy in terms of the effort he put in on behalf of his constituents. I am sorry he is now retiring on the grounds of ill-health. I hope that his health is fully restored to him at an early date. I have known Dr. O'Connell for most of 20 years in the Labour Party and, subsequently, as a constituency colleague. I always found him fair, honourable and most pleasant, despite our political differences from time to time.

This may sound like an obituary but it is not. We all hope Dr. O'Connell makes a speedy recovery. I am very shocked as everyone else is, particularly because he and I, as everyone knows, have been good friends as well as colleagues in the constituency. The best I could wish anyone in this House would be that the colleagues they share their constituency with would be on as good terms as Doctor John and I have been and will be for many years. I know the staff in Leinster House will also miss him greatly. We hope he will come in to see us and stay in touch. Knowing Dr. O'Connell, please God if he makes a full recovery he will be working just as hard at something else because that is his nature.

I know the constituents of Dublin South-Central are going to miss him greatly. We were both elected in the same year, 1965. He has many stories to tell about his most colourful career. I am very shocked and terribly unhappy that the people of Dublin South-Central are losing a great representative who has always been such a genuinely caring person. All Members should try to be three-quarters of what Deputy O'Connell has always been, a sincere and dedicated public representative, an inspiration to everybody who has known and worked with him.

I had the honour to share a constituency with Dr. O'Connell for many years. I learned a great deal about politics and surviving in politics from him. When the constituencies were revised in 1980 our constituency was divided in two, resulting in part of his constituency being merged with that of the late Frank Cluskey, then the Leader of the Labour Party. It was a famous footnote in history that Mr. Cluskey, in his inimitable way, said to Dr. O'Connell "go west, young man, go west" because Mr. Cluskey wanted to run in Dublin South-Central. But he did not go west, he contested as an Independent. He was elected and changed history in that Mr. Cluskey, unfortunately, lost his seat and the leadership of the Labour Party.

The fact that Dr. O'Connell survived as an Independent is a testimony to his extraordinary dedication to his constituents, as Deputy Briscoe said. He shared the constituency with my brother, the Lord Mayor, who, unfortunately, is not here tonight. I am sure he will join in expressing great sadness at this announcement and wish Dr. O'Connell a speedy recovery and success in the future.

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