Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1998

Vol. 488 No. 4

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy.

The Taoiseach

On my own behalf and that of Fianna Fáil, I take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathy to the widow and family of the late Mr. Jack McQuillan who died at the weekend after a long illness. Mr. McQuillan first entered the Dáil 50 years ago in 1948 as the Roscommon representative of Clann na Poblachta which gained ten seats in that election. His prime motivation for entering politics was to campaign for land and agricultural reform.

Mr. McQuillan will be remembered as a radical politician. He left Clann na Poblachta in support of his colleague and lifelong friend, Dr. Noel Browne, and stood as an Independent in the general elections of 1951 and 1957. He was re-elected on both occasions. In the 1961 election Mr. McQuillan topped the poll as a candidate for the newly formed National Progressive Democrats which he and Dr. Browne founded. When the National Progressive Democrats were wound up in 1963 both men joined the Labour Party. Mr. McQuillan was elected as a Labour Party Senator in 1965. He also served as general secretary of the Post Office Officials Association.

Jack McQuillan was an accomplished footballer at county level and won two All-Ireland medals for Roscommon in 1943 and 1944. He is remembered fondly by those who knew him for his sporting achievements and his courageous campaigning for the west. He is remembered as a sportsman, an accomplished member of the Army and a public representative with a strong radical view of how the people should be served. Jack McQuillan was always a man of principle and integrity. To his widow, Angela, and daughter, Helene, I extend our condolences on their loss. Ba cuimhne ag obair le Jack McQuillan go deo i measc an mhuintir.

Mr. J. Bruton

I join the Taoiseach in paying tribute to the memory of Jack McQuillan. Probably very few Members will remember him as a Member of this House. Most of us who met him would have met him, as I did, after he ceased to be a Member. On the occasion I met him I remember he was as interested in politics and in what was going on as he had always been and he had strong opinions about the issues of the time. He was a man of strong conviction.

As the Taoiseach said, he came into politics as a member of Clann na Poblachta. In so doing, he epitomised the radicalism of Roscommon politics. It is a county that is impatient with its public representatives, with the pace of change and is anxious for improvement at all times. It is a constituency that is far from one that could be described as placid and rural. It is a constituency of great ambition. Jack McQuillan epitomised in many ways the ambition and radicalism of his native county of Roscommon.

Clann na Poblachta, of which he was an important founder member, is part of our history. The traditions of the clann are to be found in all parties in this House. Some members of the clann became members of my party, others joined Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and other parties. The historical significance of the clann is as a party that very strongly expressed the ambition of people for a better life after the dreary years of the emergency and the Second World War. All the repressed feelings that were beneath the surface and had to remain beneath it during the war because of the difficult and straitened circumstances of the country found expression in a radical ambition for a better future through the Clann na Poblachta Party. It helped form the first inter-party Government in the history of this State. It was a very successful, radical and reforming Government and the clann helped to shape the views of other parties and Governments subsequently.

The name of Jack McQuillan is linked in the memory of most people with Dr. Noel Browne, but Jack was very much his own man. He had his own views and while he allied himself with his friend, he was not in the shadow of his friend at any time. I join the Taoiseach in paying tribute to his memory and expressing sympathy to his family and friends. I also pay tribute to him for the way he bore his long illness.

Mr. Stagg

The death of Jack McQuillan at the weekend, mere months after the death of his closest political colleague, Dr. Noel Browne, brings to an end a remarkable alliance in Irish politics. Jack McQuillan was a socialist and a democrat. His election from the Roscommon constituency in the 1948 general election is notable for that alone. The north-west is not known for the vibrancy of the third party tradition on this island and Jack McQuillan's achievement must be seen in that context.

He left the clann in 1951 in sympathy with Dr. Noel Browne and was expelled from the party over the mother and child scheme. He was returned to the Dáil as an Independent in 1951, comfortably beating the official Clann na Poblachta candidate. It is difficult at this distance to appreciate the impact those two politicians had on the Ireland of their time. For obvious reasons the bulk of attention has focused on the mother and child scheme, but the most significant achievement McQuillan and Browne left the people of Ireland was the successful campaign they waged against TB. Many people who are alive today owe their lives to the campaigning politics of Browne and McQuillan.

Unlike Dr. Noel Browne, Jack McQuillan never joined Fianna Fáil. In 1957 both men co-operated in the establishment of the National Progressive Democrats. In 1961 Jack McQuillan topped the poll in Roscommon representing his new party. In 1963 both men joined the Labour Party, but unfortunately Jack McQuillan's association with the party ended in 1968. Possibly as a result of his membership of the Labour Party and the playing of the red scare card against him — the traditional attack by social conservatives against the Irish radical — Jack lost his Dáil seat in 1965 but he became a Labour Senator.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jack on a few occasions. He was an independent-minded man, firm in his convictions and passionate in their pursuit. He became a skilled parliamentarian, so much so that the rules of this House were altered to prevent his and Dr Noel Browne's total domination of debates. His politics were instructed by his rejection of the exploitation of working people and the unnecessary poverty that was the inevitable result. His loss will be deeply felt, but I know he would have been pleased with the progress made in recent years to make this Republic a more tolerant and pluralist State. Much of the inequity, poverty and intolerance Jack campaigned against remains with us and his request to us would be to eliminate them. On behalf of the Labour Party, a party proud of its association with Jack, I extend our sympathy to his wife, Angela, and his daughter, Helene, on their loss

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Miss Harney)

I join the Taoiseach and Deputies Bruton and Stagg in offering my condolences to Jack McQuillan's widow, Angela, and daughter, Helene. The term "radical" is often loosely used in Irish politics, but it is an appropriate term to describe the late Jack McQuillan. In his autobiography Against the Tide Dr Noel Browne tells us that between 1957 and 1961 Sean Lemass described the two of them as the only real Opposition in the House. When we recall the type of issues Jack McQuillan raised in the 1940s and 1950s, we can see he was a true radical. He raised issues from gay rights to the public ownership of whiskey distilling and was among the first Deputies to advocate the boycott of South African goods. During his years in politics he was not afraid to challenge the status quo and to raise controversial issues. He made an enormous contribution to Irish politics.

As the Taoiseach said, he was also a great sportsman and won two All-Ireland medals for Roscommon in 1943 and 1944. Irish politics is the poorer for the absence of people like Jack McQuillan. On behalf of the Progressive Democrats, I extend sympathy to his wife and daughter on their loss.

Ms McManus

On behalf of my party, I extend sympathy to Jack's wife, Angela, and his daughter Helene on their loss. Jack McQuillan was one of the greats of this House. The tributes paid to him an hour ago at Glasnevin were heartfelt on a personal level, but they also acknowledged his important historical role. He was a rural radical, a west of Ireland socialist and a champion for ordinary Ireland, for the poor and the marginalised. When he was a Member of this House in the 1940s and 1950s Ireland was a very different place. It was conservative and suspicious and did not tolerate difference easily. Great courage was needed to be the champion he was and he never lacked that courage.

With his great friend and comrade, Dr. Noel Browne, he helped to make Ireland a more compassionate and progressive place. On behalf of Democratic Left, I record our sympathy, but personally I will miss him. He was a neighbour of mine in his later years and every day he passed my house on his way to Bray promenade. Up to the end he was great company. He had a sharp intellect and an acute wit. He had a passionate regard for justice. His rage for justice, as it was described at Glasnevin, was unrelenting.

I met him on the promenade recently and he recounted, with great gusto, that a heifer had broken free, had run down the promenade and jumped through a plate glass window of the Bray Head Hotel.

Mrs. O'Rourke

It must have been a Roscommon heifer.

Ms McManus

That episode of an iconoclastic heifer breaking out and gaining freedom despite all the odds struck a chord with him and epitomised what he believed in. He was a republican who believed in the principle of republicanism, liberty, equality and solidarity. He believed in peace on this island and always stood by the principle of republicanism when many others abused it. Sadly, he has lost his last fight as we all will but he was very active until the end of his life. My life has been changed for the better by his living and we are all diminished somewhat by his leaving. May he rest in peace.

Mr. Gormley

On behalf of the Green Party, I join other Members in paying tribute to the late Jack McQuillan. I am still young enough not to remember him as a political figure but, having read his obituaries in the newspapers, I know he was the kind of political figure with whom many people in the Green Party could identify and admire.

Jack McQuillan did not enter politics for personal advantage, improved status or prestige, nor did he aspire to the higher rungs of political office. He entered politics because he believed in change and believed that change could be achieved through the political process. He was a man of immense courage and tenacity, a man of principle and idealism and a man who gave politics a good name.

At a time when the differences between political parties have become somewhat blurred as they all rush towards the centre, it is important to remember a man like Jack McQuillan who embodied the spirit of political radicalism. He was radical at a time when it was difficult to be radical, a time when being radical could mean being denounced from the pulpit or being ostracised by the political establishment. As a result, Jack McQuillan's political career was a varied one but was always consistent with his beliefs.

In the past year, we have been saddened by the passing of Dr. Noel Browne and Jim Kemmy. I believe Jack McQuillan belonged to that tradition and the greatest compliment I can pay him is that contemporary Irish politics needs more people like him. On behalf of the Green Party, I extend my sympathy to his wife, family and friends.

Members rose.