I join with my colleagues in paying tribute to the late Michael Moynihan. Everything that has been said about him is true. He was a great colleague. He was elected to Killarney Urban District Council 1954, and I served for ten very happy years with him on the council, from 1985 until he retired.
He was always a very kind man, thoughtful and very generous with his advice. He served on Kerry County Council on and off over a period and, as has been said, following his sixth attempt he became a Member of Dáil Éireann in 1981. It has been rightly said that his most enduring quality was perseverance. Michael Moynihan never gave up.
He was a great trade union figure as well. When he became a psychiatric nurse in 1938 in St. Finnan's Hospital, Killarney, he joined the union. He became a branch secretary in Killarney and served on the national executive of SIPTU. He was loyal to his union and, as has been said by other speakers, he always willing to take up a grievance on behalf of a person and to see it through. He never gave up. He battled to the very last, whatever the issue.
He contributed greatly to Killarney's industrial success. He played a huge part in bringing Mr. Hans Liebherr to Ireland from Germany in 1956, visiting Germany with a delegation to ensure that he came. He smoothed all sorts of industrial relations problems over the years. I was a young man barely out of short pants when the Pretty Polly company came to Killarney in 1966, but I remember driving a man named Williamson, the original sales director who did a deal with my father-in-law for the land, and bringing him back to Cork Airport the next day. The people involved were the late Mattie O'Shea of Fianna Fáil, Michael Moynihan of Labour and the late Terry Clifford of Fine Gael, and that showed how well Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour co-operated. Sadly they have all gone now. They were the people who brought Pretty Polly to Killarney in 1966. That trio also played a part in bringing Liebherr to Killarney many years previously, a company which went on to develop hotels and other enterprises.
The constituency was very proud of Michael Moynihan when he became Minister of State with responsibility for tourism during his term as a Dáil Deputy. He lost his seat in 1987 when Fianna Fáil won it. Although he was in his 70s, he regained that seat in 1989. While he gave those opposite a knock-out blow in 1981, he delivered for us in 1989. He ran every year, except in 1969 when he would not run because he was a great believer in coalition with my party. In 1969 the Labour Party set its face against coalition and he declined to run. The Labour Party had to get another candidate – a very nice man too. However, its vote slumped and Michael Moynihan came back when the Labour Party changed its policy and built its vote back up. The truth was that he probably had more Blueshirts in his background than many of us on this side of the House.