As we agreed, it is appropriate that this House should express our condolences to the family of Lord O'Neill. I think we all would agree that Lord O'Neill was very much a man of his time, indeed before his time, and a man of great vision. He was ahead of his peers in his thinking in regard to the problems of this country, and one could probably make the point and regret that fact that his peers did not equal his vision and had not the same ideas and had not the same outlook in regard to the problems of this country. It is appropriate that we as a House of the Oireachtas should send the condolences of the House to his family.
Death of Lord O'Neill: Expression of Sympathy.
I would like to associate the Fine Gael Party with this expression of condolence to the family of the late Terence O'Neill.
Terence O'Neill represented the great lost opportunity in the politics of this country in the sixties and the seventies. He was a generous and far-sighted man. A leader who came after 40 frozen years in the Unionist Party, 40 frozen years of attitudes and reaction. He very clearly saw the need for change, saw that change was desirable, saw that Northern Ireland could not survive as a peaceful and civilised state unless there were major radical changes. Unfortunately, what he wanted came far too soon for his own people. Unfortunately, what he tried to do, especially his historic meeting with Sean Lemass, sparked of a backlash which is still very much a part of the problem and the troubles in Northern Ireland. He was a man who deserved loyalty which he did not get from any of his closest supporters. He was a man who deserved to be listened to by his own people. Unfortunately, they did not listen.
When Terence O'Neill was driven out of politics in Northern Ireland all of us in this country were the poorer, all of us in a sense were the losers because his vision of peaceful, gradual progress was jettisoned and totally taken off the political agenda. Today, on behalf of my own party, I would like to mark his passing by paying this tribute to him and by sending our regrets to his family.
I speak on behalf of the Independents who wish to be associated with this vote of condolence. I came to know Lord O'Neill in recent years. I met him a number of times at meetings of the British-Irish Association. His presence there indicated that even in retirement he still have a lively interest in the Northern problem and in Anglo-Irish affairs, though that interest was tempered by a certain melancholy, a certain depression, and a lack of any real hope about progress.
It was said of him that he was naive and that he lacked any rapport with his own people. One historian has said that he was the wrong man with the right ideas. There is much in all that but these criticisms are minor compared with his remarkable courage. Few people would think of Terence O'Neill as a leader and yet it is one of the prerequisites of leadership that a leader should take his people one jump ahead of where they are, so to speak. He tried to do that; he did not succeed and he himself suffered the consequences.
I would recall to the House that a popular Sunday newspaper here carried a poll which showed that the people of the Republic very much appreciated what Terence O'Neill was trying to do. He made "moderation" and "compromise" words of virtue instead of reproach. We would do well to remember that.
Finally, it is worthwhile noting that I heard him saying in recent years that he was absolutely convinced that the reason the Sunningdale experiment, the powersharing executive, collapsed was not because of any real internal difficulty but because of the unfortunate insistence on the part of one group to underline the all-Ireland dimension. Perhaps there is a lesson in that for the future.
I would like on behalf of the Progressive Democrats to join in the expression of condolence to the family of Lord Terence O'Neill. As has already been said, he was indeed a man of integrity and, unfortunately, perhaps he was ahead of his time. I have heard people say he was the right man in the right place at the wrong time. He sought to build bridges not only within the communities in Northern Ireland but also between communities North and South. He was a great loss to politics because he had so much to offer to us all. On behalf of the Progressive Democrats I wish to express our condolences.
On behalf of the Labour Party we would also like to be associated with the messages of condolences to the wife and family of the late Terence O'Neill. He was a good and honourable man who meant well. The events of January and later in 1965, his meetings with Sean Lemass, marked a breakthrough; they brought a thaw in a situation which had been going on for 40 years. They were a breakthrough, perhaps even in the context of 300 years. North-South visits are now a matter of routine and, broadly speaking, they are taken for granted. That was an historic event which set the pattern that has been followed since.
Captain O'Neill saw no future in the old ways. He saw that they were futile, that the whole thing was untenable, and I would suggest he also saw it was untenable as he visualised Europe developing. He was certainly a man of vision now that we look back on the initiative he took 25 years ago.
To some extent, I would agree with Senator Murphy when he said that he has been seen as naive but you can look at it the other way and say that he can be seen as being very wise. In many ways he foresaw what was coming and he moved to try to prevent some of the terrible things that happened. Unfortunately he was not successful but that was no fault of his. Again, we wish to extend our condolences to his wife and family.
Members rose in their places.