I think at this stage that Members representative of each of the political groups in the House would wish to take the opportunity to pay tribute and express sympathy to his family on the recent tragic and premature death of the late John Kelly. I now call the Leader of the House, Senator Seán Fallon.
Expression of Sympathy. - Death of Former Member.
It saddens me to have to propose a vote of sympathy to the widow and family of the late John Kelly. Only two weeks ago we were expressing the hope that he would make a recovery. Unfortunately, that was not to be.
John Kelly, as we all know, was an excellent parliamentarian. He was witty, quick and articulate. He was, too, a pure academic and an outstanding legal expert, particularly in the area of our Constitution. I think it can be said without any doubt that he was an extremely popular Member of the House on all sides of the political divide.
It is amazing how we remember him. I have to say that perhaps I did not know him as well as other Members of the House and in particular his colleagues in Fine Gael. I had the pleasure of sitting beside him eight years ago, when he was Minister for Trade and Commerce, at a Chamber of Commerce function in Athlone, and I must say I had a very enjoyable evening. He was funny and witty.
There are two stories that stick in my mind which he told me that night and I remember them as if I heard them yesterday. One was the famous story he told me of the politician who on Christmas Day was at home with his family waiting for his Christmas dinner. A knock came to the door and a gentleman arrived looking for a medical card. The TD produced a medical card application form, asked him to fill it in and sign it. Then he said: "On your way home bring it to your GP, then bring it back to me and I will send it off". The man replied: "Look, I would not like to upset my doctor on Christmas Day".
He told me another story which is relevant to this House, which was that he would sooner campaign in four general elections than in one Seanad election. There is a moral in both stories if you examine them. I am sure the Senators on the other side at the back will understand that that might be one reason why so many people on both sides of the House would like to go to the Lower House.
Certainly, John Kelly will be missed. His death is a loss to all of us. He will be missed by his family, his country and his political party. I offer my sympathy to his widow and his family.
It is my sad duty but great privilege on behalf of the Fine Gael group, the party which John Kelly served with such distinction for many years, to pay a short tribute to his memory.
John Kelly was a distinguished Member of the Oireachtas for about 20 years, serving in the Seanad from 1969 to 1973 and then as Government Chief Whip on his first day as a Deputy. Being a Government Chief Whip at any time, as we know, is a difficult job. It was quite difficult at that time, as a Coalition Government had been elected after 16 years with just a slim majority. He also spent a brief period as Attorney General — a fitting tribute to a person who was a constitutional lawyer.
He had a long and distinguished parliamentary career and was without doubt the most brilliant speaker of his time. I think I speak on behalf of all of us here in saying none of us has heard or seen a better speaker in our time here. He had a great gift of speech; he was eloquent, witty and always had good humour. He had a tremendous independence of mind. He was a clear thinker and speaker. He was forthright in his views but considerate in respect of the views of others. He was always concerned about the welfare of Members of both Houses, of people on both sides. He was an academic but he mixed with tremendous spirit with all Members of the House and enjoyed, as the previous speaker related, the many anecdotes and stories of political life. He served his constituency of Dublin South with tremendous efficiency and effectiveness. He looked after the needs of his constituents and was returned on many occasions at the top of the poll.
They say no one is irreplaceable, but in my view John Kelly is irreplaceable in Irish political life and Irish life in general. On behalf of the members of the Fine Gael group, to his wife, Delphine, and family we extend our most sincere sympathy on their tragic loss.
I wish to support the sentiments expressed and I do so on behalf of my colleagues on the University benches here. In passing, I may say that we fully accept your suggestion that there should be one spokesperson for each group, because on these occasions it is much more in accord with the dignity of tributes paid that they should be limited only to the spokespersons.
It is very hard to accept that John Kelly is dead. Frequently, it is more difficult to accept that certain personalities are gone than others. It is very hard to accept that that vibrant intellect is no more; to adopt the Lear phrase, why should a dog, a horse or a rat have life and he no life at all. It is very difficult to accept this, that he should have left us so suddenly.
I knew him quite well and often participated with him in discussions, both private and public, and I subscribe to everything that has been said about his wit and his erudition. I would also like to make the point that he was intensely patriotic while having nothing but contempt for that kind of strident, loud-mouthed nationalism which really has no substance in it. He was genuinely patriotic, deplored that dreary imitativeness of so much of Irish life since independence — and honesty compels me to add that he regarded the University seats as an example of that dreary imitativeness of English political culture.
His witty and mordant turn of phrase would have placed him very much at home in the columns of The Leader newspaper at the turn of the century. Indeed, so much of his cast of mind was of that Gaelic League early Sinn Féin days; and later on he very much respected and was, in turn, influenced by the political integrity of the first Cumann na nGaedheal administration. He is a great loss. He might himself squirm at the mawkishness of the phrase, but the fact is that Ireland has lost a devoted son.
On behalf of the Labour Party, I would like to convey our sympathy to the family and relatives and indeed all the people who were affected by the sudden death of John Kelly — sudden in the sense, as Senator Murphy expressed it, that none of us would have expected this to happen. Most of us thought he was not a worrier, but the lie is given to that by what happened when he was Whip. Any of us who were around then knew how enthusiastic he was, the way he went about trying to get people out of bars, etc. to make sure that everything was right. He met other party Whips to ensure that everything was in order. He certainly was a worrier but, of course, he had one or two people he had to worry about.
He was a quick-witted man, perhaps not in the same style as Frank Cluskey but his keen mind could come up with something very sharp and incisive, and witty. In this he was not always at one with his own party, and was very open about that. He told the truth equally about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. He believed they should be one. He was equally brutal about the Labour Party, saying that Fine Gael had no business being with them under any circumstances, that they were not his type. That was something we had to appreciate and understand about the man. He was upfront, a committed and concerned person. Like Frank Cluskey, he was not over-enamoured of the idea of clinics because you had to tell people you could do certain things you could not really do. In that sense he had an affinity with Cluskey. There is no doubt he is a great loss. I did not expect to hear of his death at such a young age. I would like to offer our sympathy and prayers to his wife and family.
On behalf of my colleagues in the Progressive Democrats I would like to extend to the Kelly family our deepest sympathy on their great loss. I had the privilege of serving in the last Dáil in which John Kelly was a Member. As a new Deputy it was a great experience for me — indeed one I will always treasure — to go into the House when John Kelly was speaking. It was something I did on every occasion he spoke in the House. His extraordinary ability to convey a point be it witty, serious or whatever mode he felt necessary, was something to behold. I often wondered — as, I am sure, did others — how I could be as good as John Kelly in that vein. There is no question but that he raised the level of debate, both in the Houses of the Oireachtas and indeed outside them. He was a distinguished Attorney General and served in ministerial offices as well. He is a great loss to public life in this country.
He was also a brilliant academic. He epitomised academic excellence for this country internationally for many years, most notably in Germany, by the many lectures he gave there. He was part of Irish culture and life, both in Parliament and outside it. His loss is a great loss — a great loss to the Fine Gael Party and to all of us not to have him here with us today. We convey our sincere sympathy to his family.
I would like to associate myself with the words of tribute and our sympathy to the family of John Kelly. I ask the Members to rise in silence for one moment.
Members rose in their places.