I thank the Tánaiste for allowing me to lead in the tributes to the late Deputy Brian Lenihan.
All of us in this House deeply mourn the passing of Deputy Brian Lenihan, one of the outstanding public figures of the last four decades. Many deserved tributes have been paid to him from all sides of the House during the past week. I am sure the House will forgive me for paying a slightly extended tribute to him which he deserves.
Deputy Lenihan was a respected voice in the Government Council Chamber, in the House and the party rooms. His legal training and his wide reading were great assets. He became at length an elder statesman, the last member of the House apart from Deputy Blaney to have served in the great reforming administration of Seán Lemass. Brian Lenihan went on to serve under Jack Lynch and Charles Haughey, in no less than seven Departments. He had a career of great public achievement. Modern Ireland owes him a great deal. He was both a liberal and a democratic republican in the best sense of those words.
One of his achievements was the reform, at one sitting, of the literary censorship laws which had resulted in the banning of great works of 20th century literature, both Irish and foreign. Works by writers like Seán O Faoláin and Kate O'Brien had been banned. He changed the law, which was damaging to the country's reputation and which limited its vision, in a way that caused relatively little controversy at the time and which did not need to be revisited several times afterwards as has been the fate of some other liberalising legislation. He also finalised the enactment of the Succession Act, a milestone with regard to women's inheritance rights and equality.
As Donogh O'Malley's successor in education, he carried through the scheme for free secondary education, perhaps the single most important modernising measure of the 1960s, with hugely beneficial social repercussions. The free transport scheme went with it. He also oversaw the planning of the two NIHEs, which were transformed in his sister's time as Minister for Education into the University of Limerick and Dublin City University, and the inception of the regional technical colleges, two measures which represented a departure from the more traditional academic education provided by universities.
Brian Lenihan was well known and respected internationally. He put visitors instantly at ease and he was always extremely knowledgeable and conversant on international affairs. He was very well known and popular in American political circles. He met several Presidents, knew many of the important officials on Capitol Hill and was a close friend of Senator Ted Kennedy and others of the four horsemen. He was three times Minister for Foreign Affairs, briefly in 1973, from 1979-81 and from 1987 to 1989. During his period in the Seanad he was also a member of the European Parliament and was one of the architects of the enduring political alliance between Fianna Fáil and the Gaullists. He had been deeply interested in European affairs from the beginning of his political career. He also served in the Council of Europe.
In 1977 it fell to him to complete negotiations on the Common Fisheries Policy. While it may be said that in the entry negotiations prior to 1973, with Britain and Ireland missing some opportunities and not giving fisheries the prominence it deserved, nevertheless the EU fisheries regime has enabled the Irish fishing industry to grow, to modernise and to prosper.
Brian Lenihan between 1979 and 1981 was a Foreign Minister in the best traditions of Ireland's independent foreign policy as established by Eamon de Valera and Frank Aiken. He expressed a clear Government view on apartheid and sport. Above all in the Bahrain Declaration of 10 February 1980 he gave a lead to the European Community, even ahead of France. In it he recognised the role of the PLO in representing the Palestinian people, recognised their right to self-determination, and to the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. This was a prelude to the Venice Declaration of the EU Heads of Government in June 1980. Despite considerable political criticism at home over what was at that time politically very unorthodox, we have today a Palestinian State, as part of a Middle East peace settlement which Prime Minister Rabin has died trying to defend.
Brian Lenihan also participated with the then Taoiseach Charles Haughey in creating the Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental Conference. He was a warm admirer of Lord Carrington, in whom much faith was placed as a source of political progress on Northern Ireland.
In 1982, Brian Lenihan became Minister for Agriculture. He soon confounded the mockers, by bringing home an exceptionally good farm price deal. Whether negotiating with the Soviets or our EU partners, Brian Lenihan had the ability to stay wide awake later than most, and others tended to succumb before he did.
In Opposition during the 1980s, Brian Lenihan was a valued member of the New Ireland Forum, where the breadth of his knowledge could be used to good effect. He had an ability to bridge the two traditions, and he had a breadth of understanding and tolerance for both. Individuals and deputations from a Unionist background who might approach him initially with hostile pre-conceptions soon found themselves disarmed by his genuine charm, sincerity and deep understanding, and his obvious desire for peace and reconciliation. He was always totally for the civilised settlement of differences, and he strongly supported social partnership and consensus.
While Minister for Foreign Affairs in March 1987, under Charles Haughey's great Fianna Fáil minority administration, he co-chaired the Inter-governmental Conference with the Northern Secretary Tom King, with whom he developed a good and constructive relationship. One of the most important things achieved during that time was the passage of fundamental reform of fair employment legislation. Progress was also made towards the establishment of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body.
In 1989, after overcoming serious illness with great fortitude, he became Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, and he sorted out what had been a bitter dispute over pay in the Defence Forces with his customary skill and powers of conciliation.
He stood for the Presidency, and received the highest number of votes on the first round. He was magnanimous in defeat and was always ready to praise the President. He Continued to serve his country in the Dáil to the best of his ability, and became Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Behind the scenes, he played a significant role in the peace process, being the source of certain contacts both loyalist and republican from which he conveyed information to the then Taoiseach, Deputy Albert Reynolds. He was also in close touch with an important German figure in close contact with the German Government, who organised the Duisburg Talks and later helped broker an unpublicised permanent IRA ceasefire on the continent, over a year before the general IRA ceasefire. Earlier this year, as an active member of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation Brian Lenihan was the first to promote publicly in dialogue with Protestant pastors the restoration of 50 per cent remission to prisoners as a first step, a measure that has since been adopted by the British Government.
Brian Lenihan came from a great political family. His father, who served for a long time in local politics, entered the Dáil after him. He was also joined in 1982 by his sister, our much valued Deputy leader Mary O'Rourke. Indeed, it was the first time a brother and sister served in Cabinet together.
Brian Lenihan, as everyone knows, was excellent company. He could be witty and irreverent. He could be passionate in his political speeches, and indeed when occasion demanded he was able to develop confusion to a very fine art. However, as those who worked with him will know, he put his critical faculties to the service of his country, and his opinions and judgments were very much in demand and respected in this House. His influence always weighed on the side of tolerance and civilised standards. He had little time for reactionary or fundamentalist attitudes. He was part of the new Ireland, not the old. Modern Ireland, whether it fully realises it or not, owes him a considerable debt.
I extend to his wife Ann, his childern Brian, Conor, Niall, Paul and Anita, his sister Mary and to Paddy and Ann our deepest condolences. His presence and contribution to public life will be both greatly missed and long remembered.
Ar dheis láimh Dé go raibh anam fíor uasal Bhriain. Go raibh a sprid linn i gcónaí.