Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 23 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 7

Order of Business. - Death of Member: Expressions of Sympathy.

Mr. Quinn

At the outset, I express my appreciation to colleagues in the House for ordering today's business so that we can pay tribute to the life and contribution of the late Deputy Pat Upton.

The untimely and shocking death of our friend and colleague, Pat Upton, is a devastating blow to his wife, Anne, and his children, Henry, Paddy, Lizzie and Robert. I acknowledge the presence of his son Henry in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery this afternoon.

On behalf of his friends and colleagues in the parliamentary Labour Party, and the Labour Party as a whole, I offer my sincerest and heart-felt condolences to his family at this sad and sor rowful time. Everyone who knew Pat Upton knew his political life, as much as his family life, was a partnership between himself and his wife Anne. Anne was his closest friend, confidante and adviser. Their entry into political activism and public life was a joint and equal venture. Pat and Anne also passed on their passion for politics and ideas to their children. Pat's sons Henry and Paddy, in particular, have a passion for politics and elections. Anyone who has seen Pat's boys direct a tally for a Dáil or Seanad election will be in no doubt of that.

The news of Pat's death yesterday came as a great shock to me and to the entire parliamentary Labour Party, to our party staff and membership and to his constituents in Dublin South-Central. Pat was in the prime of his life. As someone who is only two years younger than him, I still find it very hard to comprehend that he will no longer occupy a place on these benches.

I will miss the independence of thought and mind he brought to Dáil Éireann and his unique and individualistic approach to political life. As everybody in this Assembly will testify, Pat Upton was a skilled and capable Dáil Deputy. He attached equal importance to promoting the interests of his constituents and to his work as a legislator. He fought a number of memorable parliamentary battles, particularly during his time as Labour leader in the Seanad between 1989 and 1992. During this session, Pat was the most active member of the parliamentary Labour Party on Committee Stage debates where, I am proud to say on his behalf, he achieved some major improvements in the legislation within his brief. He also highlighted a number of issues which became more popular after he raised them, such as his call for more flexibility in the licensing laws, particularly in the greater Dublin region.

As a Dublin TD, Pat had a tremendous love for Dublin and its people. He was a frequent visitor to Croke Park to watch Gaelic games and to Richmond Park to watch his favourite soccer team, St. Pat's. Even though he represented a Dublin constituency, he still had very strong ties with his native County Clare, of which he was immensely proud. He and his family visited Clare many times each year to keep in contact with family and friends in Kilrush. I know Pat, like his fellow county men and women, was immensely proud of the Banner County when it won All Ireland hurling titles in 1995 and 1997.

It will come as no surprise to all of you in this Assembly that Pat's personal style was both unique and individual.

In a curious and wonderful way, he brought both the skills and the keen mind of an academic to politics. He was not only successful in his own field of science but had a wonderful common touch. He saw beyond the futility of opposition for its own sake, which enabled him, for example, to pursue a committed bipartisan approach on the Northern Ireland aspects of his justice brief. That supportive approach was generously acknowledged by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform at the time, and I pay tribute to him for that.

Pat took his own course in politics and was not afraid to be a minority voice at times. However – and I am proud of this – he was also always a team player and a loyal friend. He preferred to persuade others of his position with wry and ironic humour rather than rhetoric. For me, one of his great defining characteristics was his great passion: he was passionate about County Clare, about sport, about his politics and most of all, passionate about his family, of whom he was immensely proud. As political colleagues, we truly feel a great sense of loss, but it cannot compare with the sense of loss that Anne and his children must feel for the loss of a loving husband and father.

If Pat held passionate views on politics, his politics were always the politics of ideas and not personalities. He believed in a clash of policies but not in political argy-bargy. He will be remembered as a man interested in the substance of politics and in getting practical things done for the welfare of the people. Our political life is greatly impoverished with his passing.

The premature death in mid-life of a Deputy who had all the appearances of a fit and healthy man is an indication of the pressures public representatives operate under. The combination of the demands put on Deputies by the public and the manner in which we organise our business in this House is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle, nor can it be considered family-friendly. Despite the impression sometimes created by an uninformed minority in the media, most if not all Deputies work hours each week that few outside this Chamber would tolerate. I respectfully suggest that perhaps we need to look at the way we organise our business and to devise new structures and systems that will both reduce the pressure and make us more efficient.

The Labour Party, Pat's family and I were all deeply moved by the tributes paid to Pat yesterday by the President, the Taoiseach, who called me – which I acknowledged and appreciated very much – the leader of Fine Gael, who was in contact with me and other friends and colleagues of Pat. They have communicated to me a sense of shock and empathy with not just the political process that we are all committed to, but with the unique tragedy of a family which has lost its standard bearer in mid-life and mid-career, the father who was devoted to them and to whom they were devoted for all he had brought to that household. We will struggle on without him, but we will not forget him.

The Taoiseach

Is le fíor-bhrón im chroí a sheasaim anseo inniu ar ócáid bhás An Teachta Dála Pat Upton, Gaeilgeoir, polaiteoir, fear léinn agus fear lách. Ró-luath ar fad a d'imigh sé uainn.

I join in the expression of sympathy by the Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Quinn. It is with a sense of deepest shock and great regret that I utter these words of sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of the late Dr. Pat Upton. It is always a sad occasion when one of our parliamentary colleagues passes away, but it is truly tragic when someone like Pat, in the full bloom of his life and career, is snatched suddenly from our midst.

If I recall correctly, a Cheann Comhairle, with your agreement he raised questions on the Order of Business on two separate days last week to which I replied.

Dr. Pat Upton brought many personal gifts to the principal tasks to which he devoted his life. This highly cultured and genial Clareman, who represented the people of Dublin South-Central with such pride and passion, was a person of tremendous ability, energy and commitment.

His love of learning, in particular his great love for our native language and culture, marked him out as very special. He had the undoubted respect of his parliamentary colleagues on all sides of the House for his straight speaking and his strong sense of the value of public service. As a councillor, as a Senator, as a member of the Council of Europe, and as a Teachta Dála, Pat's contributions were always of the highest quality and conviction.

At the Cabinet meeting today, there was an aide memoire on social welfare matters for the Social Welfare Bill, 1999. It showed an anomalous restriction which the late Deputy Upton had come across in his constituency for people who, at a certain age, were losing out on deserted wife's benefit. He had come across this anomaly, raised it, followed it through and convinced the Minister it should be amended. It is ironic but not unusual of the man that he would follow this matter in detail. This, as with many other things he did, will form part of modern legislation and remove these anomalous restrictions.

His loss will be felt most keenly by his wife Anne and by his family. I acknowledge the presence here today of his son, Henry, and ask him to convey our sympathies to the other members of the family. On behalf of all the members of the Government and all the members of my party, Fianna Fáil, I express our deepest condolences to them on this very sad occasion. To all the members of the Labour Party, his colleagues, we extend our regrets and sympathies. It has lost a fine and active colleague.

Is mór linn go léir cailliúint thobann an Teachta Pat Upton, agus déanaimid comhbhrón lena chlann, lena cháirde, lena chondae dúchais, agus lena pháirtí.

Ar dheis láimh Dé go raibh a anam fíor-uasal.

Mr. J. Bruton

It is difficult to understate the sense of shock Members felt yesterday when they got the news, first that Pat was very seriously ill and finally that he had passed to his eternal reward. It is such a shock that most of us in this Dáil will remember to the end of our days exactly where we were when we heard the news that Pat had died.

I admired him immensely. He was somebody who was not just an academic with a brilliant mind but also had a sense of tolerance and practicality which made him an extremely effective politician. He was able to bring to bear on politics the resources of his brain and of his training in a tolerant way. He was – as I said yesterday in my statement – one of the most original thinkers in the Dáil. He was not in any way confined by any political ideology in the way he approached problems. He was eclectic in the best sense of the word – he could draw from different sources of knowledge and apply them to practical problems and political life. I concur with the Taoiseach about the changes to the Social Welfare Bill which Pat Upton brought about. From talking to people since his death, I have heard of a case when he rang, on five or six occasions, an institution caring for a sick child to inquire how she was progressing. That level of personal interest in the cause of a constituent was entirely private and would never have come to public knowledge, or to my knowledge, had he not died, and that was typical of the politician he was.

Having said that the Dáil as a whole feels a deep sense of shock and loss, the sense of trauma felt by the Labour Party must be almost unbearable. Knowing that party and Pat Upton's place in it, and knowing his capacity to disagree without ever causing hurt, his lovely character and his humanity, I can only imagine how traumatised all members of the parliamentary Labour Party feel. As the Taoiseach has done on behalf of Fianna Fáil, on behalf of my party I extend deep and heartfelt sympathy to Labour Members on what must be an awful day for them.

It is worth repeating that Pat Upton was proud of his heritage as a west Clare man. He was committed to the Irish language, in which he was fluent. Throughout the early part of his political career, he was associated with another man who died prematurely, the late Frank Cluskey, and it is sad that both those close political friends and associates had their careers cut short. I believe there was no limit to what Pat Upton could have achieved in this House and it is a great tragedy that he will not see his role fulfilled, but on the other hand, his political heritage will be of immense and lasting benefit.

On behalf of Fine Gael I convey our sympathy to Pat's widow, Anne, and his children Henry, Patrick, Lizzie and Bob. There is an empty space in their lives which will never be filled, but they can be proud that their husband and father has done his State, country, party, and his beliefs great service in an all too short life.

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

I join the Taoiseach and the Leaders of Fine Gael and Labour in expressing my sympathy and that of the Progressive Democrats to Pat Upton's wife Anne, his four children and his Labour Party colleagues. Deputy Bruton said everyone would remember where they were when they heard the news; I was at a function in west Dublin where I received word shortly after lunchtime, and it was difficult to believe that someone with whom I had a humorous conversation last week about future political events was now gone.

Pat Upton was a decent, affable, honourable man, without pretension or ostentation. He reserved his most trenchant political criticism for the Progressive Democrats but he did so in a colourful way, devoid of personalised politics. There was nothing like a new Progressive Democrats initiative to get him firing on all cylinders. At a time when it was often discredited Pat Upton brought great distinction to the profession of politics – a profession in which we are honoured to serve. As Deputy John Bruton and others stated, he had an enormous store of knowledge. He was an academic but he was an academic who could see the big picture. Sometimes academia and political life do not marry well but in the case of Pat Upton it was a perfect marriage.

I first encountered Pat Upton during the period 1989 to 1992 when, as a Senator, he was very interested in and made an enormous contribution to the Environmental Protection Agency legislation which was initiated in the Seanad at that time. I formed a view of him then which has remained with me. Pat Upton took politics and his job as a legislator seriously and he was always very thoughtful. However, he was also a compassionate and decent person. One of the issues on which he took a strong and courageous stand in recent times was that of refugees. More recently, when speaking in the House on local government reform, notwithstanding the fact that he was from west Clare, he spoke about this wonderful city he was so proud to represent and he looked forward to the day when there would be a modern system of local government in Dublin under which the lord mayor could be directly elected.

The sense of loss everyone in the House feels about the passing of a colleague who was so young, popular and good humoured is nothing in comparison to the loss felt by members of the Labour Party and Pat's wife, Anne, and his four children. Henry who is with us this afternoon can be proud of the fact that he had a wonderful father who was an honourable politician and who brought great distinction to this House and to politics in general. He and his family can always be proud of that view which, I believe, is unanimous. It is right that that should be the view of somebody with whom we were proud to serve.

Mr. Sargent

On behalf of the Green Party I offer my deepest sympathy to Anne, Henry, Patrick, Lizzie and Bob, the wife and children of Dr. Pat Upton. I acknowledge the presence of Henry in the House today.

For Pat Upton's many friends, his family and his colleagues in the Labour Party, it is difficult to contemplate a day like today. The sadness felt at the loss of a colleague or friend is enormous when he dies in his prime but it is all the more shattering when he dies so suddenly. For a Deputy as hardworking as Dr. Pat Upton, many opportunities to relax, spend time with his family or pursue academic research would have been placed on the back burner in the hope that eventual retirement would provide him with more time away from the pressures of politics. That is what makes it so difficult when somebody dies so suddenly.

Dáil Éireann will be much poorer for Pat Upton's passing. For the Labour Party, the loss will be unbearable. Pat had many friends in the Seanad and the Dáil and I have spoken to a number of them since the tragic news of his death. Some of them recalled how he lectured them academically in microbiology and other subjects. Others would have been lectured politically, something Pat always did in a very entertaining way. Indeed, he had a naturally entertaining manner which ensured that any resistance was weakened when he engaged in political debates. He had a friendly way of talking, as Gaeilge agus as Béarla, and like other Members I enjoyed many conversations with him.

Pat Upton also educated many of us. He had a comprehensive knowledge of agriculture and science and was well versed in many other areas of expertise, areas about which only his family and friends would know in great detail. Outside the House he served many people through his hard work. Among them were my parents, constituents of his in Dublin South-Central, who speak fondly of him, as do many of his other constituents. He is at rest.

The public and the media should reflect on the workload of those who take public life seriously. We should do likewise and ensure we do not sacrifice ourselves. We were proud to have Pat Upton as a colleague and to have served with him. I ask his son, Henry, to convey this message to his family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Mr. Briscoe

Many compliments have been paid to the memory of Pat Upton. We share the grief of the Leader of the Labour Party and the members of his party. Pat was a personal friend, a wonderful father and husband and a great loss to his constituents. An old judge in America once said to me that we should aspire to earn the esteem of our fellow human beings. Long before the end of his life Pat had deservedly earned the esteem of his fellow men and women. His memory will live on.

I visited his wife, Anne, this morning and was full of admiration for her strength in putting her grief on the back burner to protect her family. Pat was lucky, he had a wonderful wife in Anne. She and her children will have a contribution to make.

Pat had three qualities which it is so important for those in public life to have. He had dignity, decency and kindness which he recognised in his fellow human beings. He will be remembered for a long time. We will miss him. I extend my deepest sympathy and condolences to Anne and his children. May his soul rest in peace.

Mr. G. Mitchell

I join with others in paying tribute to our late colleague, Pat Upton. I was shocked when I heard the terrible news yesterday. Knowing how close he was to his wife and children I cannot even begin to imagine the effect on them of having lost a loving husband and father. They regularly accompanied him and they were always good company. When I met him in the corridor last week we exchanged stories and banter. That was the last I saw of him. Even though he was not well, he attended a function in the constituency on Friday evening which I did not attend. Not alone was he decent, hard-working, straightforward and good company he was always in great humour. He was devoted to his wife, Anne, and his children. His untimely death deprives Dáil Éireann and the people of Dublin South-Central of a man of great honour.

I considered him to be more than a political colleague. He was a workmate, the kind of colleague who could keep a confidence and whom one could talk to in confidence. He was a man of his word. He was not all things to all people. One knew where one stood with him and he was capable of speaking his mind. That was a great side to him. He did not have an ounce of pretension or pride, even though he had much reason to be a proud man.

His family has lost a loving father and husband, the Dáil and Dublin South-Central have lost an illustrious Member of Parliament and I have lost a good friend. I will miss him dearly. To Anne and the family I extend my deepest sympathy. I have no doubt that he is at eternal peace. He was a man who had justice in his heart. May his soul rest in peace.

Mr. Ardagh

I extend my condolences to Anne and to Henry and his brothers and sister and to all Members of the House who are shocked and saddened by the untimely and sudden death of Pat Upton. He was a friend of mine, a constituency colleague and a neighbour. I knew Pat since his election to South Dublin County Council in 1991 and latterly here in the Dáil when I joined him as a Member in 1997.

Pat was an exemplary Deputy. He was the type of role model who could be presented to any young person. He may have had one failing in that he worked hard, possibly too hard. One hopes that the lesson regarding the amount of work placed on the shoulders of a Deputy may be taken on board and that something will be done about it, as Deputy Quinn has mentioned.

Pat always made incisive contributions and he was very witty. I especially recall the motion on the licensing laws when he sat through the debate for three hours often listening to tongue in cheek contributions. He was able to respond both seriously and tongue in cheek.

He was a great numbers man. We often met in the constituency and swapped polling figures to see how we were doing. On the occasion of a count Pat did not need to get to the end of a tally because he could tell the order in which people were going to be elected within 15 to 20 minutes of the count commencing. He had a great facility in that regard.

Politics was a family affair for the Uptons. Anne, Pat and the boys were often out in the constituency delivering leaflets and talking at various sporting and social occasions. The family enjoyed and loved what they were doing. It was a reason for being together, which they loved. It was great to see for other families in the constituency.

There is a great sense of loss in Dublin South-Central. A number of community meetings have been postponed as a result of Pat's death. Deputy Gay Mitchell and I have met a number of community leaders and there is heartfelt sadness throughout the constituency.

Pat was a marvellous storyteller. There were many social occasions during which constituency colleagues would meet. Pat would regale us with stories about the GAA, Clare and politics in general. I will miss him, as will the Dáil and his constituents. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I appreciate the opportunity to join with colleagues in this expression of sympathy to the wife and family of the late Deputy Upton. I had the opportunity to first meet him some years ago when he visited my home while on a Seanad canvass. I met him again here after my election in 1997 when he extended a greeting to me which I appreciated and did not forget.

On behalf of my colleagues in the leadership of Sinn Féin, I extend our sympathy to Deputy Quinn and the parliamentary Labour Party and to you, a Cheann Comhairle, on the loss of a colleague. The tributes paid by those who knew the late Deputy Upton so well and intimately show that his wife and family have lost a wonderful husband and father, someone of whom they have grown to be proud. I extend my sympathy to Deputy Upton's son, who is in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery, and to his wife and family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Mr. Higgins

(Dublin West): Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a ghabháil thar mo cheann féin agus thar cheann an Pháirtí Shóisialach le céile an Teachta Pat Upton, lena chlann, lena chomhleacaithe i bPáirti an Lucht Oibre agus le muintir an Dáil Cheantair, Baile Átha Cliath Lár Theas.

On my behalf and on behalf of the Socialist Party, I extend our formal condolences to Deputy Pat Upton's bereaved spouse and children, his Labour Party colleagues, relatives, friends and the constituents he served in Dublin South Central.

Ms M. McGennis

I want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the death of Deputy Upton. Due to the constituency revisions, I had the opportunity to work with Deputy Upton for a second time. We served together as members of Dublin County Council from 1991 to 1994 when the councils were split into three separate bodies. My impression of Deputy Upton as a quietly effective politician, an extremely hard working man and a thorough gentleman was confirmed when I later became his constituency colleague. I express my deepest sympathy to his wife and family and to his colleagues in the Labour Party.

Members rose.The Dáil adjourned at 3.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 February 1999.