Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 1

Return to Writ: Tipperary South. Introduction of New Member.

The Clerk of the Dáil made the following announcement:

I gcomhlíonadh Bhuan-Ordú céad a seasca de na Buan-Orduithe i dtaobh Gnó Phoiblí, tá orm a chraoladh go ndearnadh, sa Chorrthoghchán a bhí ann an tríochadú lá de Mheitheamh, dhá mhíle is a haon, de chionn an Teachta Treasa Uí Eachthiarna d'fháil bháis, an comhalta seo a leanas a thoghadh don Dáil:–

In compliance with Standing Order 160 of the Standing Orders relative to Public Business, I have to announce that at the By-Election held on 30th June, 2001, consequent on the death of Deputy Theresa Ahearn, the following member has been elected to the Dáil:–

Dáilcheantar Thiobraid Árann Theas

Constituency of Tipperary South

–Tom Hayes

Tá Rolla na gComhaltaí sínithe ag an Teachta de réir Bhuan-Ordú 1.

The Deputy has signed the Roll of Members in accordance with Standing Order 1.

Mr. Noonan

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Teachta Tomás Ó hAodha agus déanaim comhgairdeas leis as ucht a thoghadh sa bhfo-thoghchán i dTiobrad Árainn Theas. Ba shár Sheanadóir é agus tá súil agam go ndéanfaidh sé sár Theachta freisin. I congratulate Deputy Tom Hayes and welcome him to the House. I wish him many years as a successful parliamentarian. I thank Deputy Flanagan who was the party's director of elections in Tipperary South and ran such an effective campaign. I also thank and congratulate Deputy Tom Hayes's family, including his wife, his sons, his mother, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, all of whom are present today. I also thank the Fine Gael organisation in Tipperary South.

The principal victors in the by-election are the people of Tipperary South because they have elected a most dedicated Deputy who will serve them well for many years. He has given great service as a Senator and he will also give excellent service as a Deputy. He fills the seat made vacant by the death of the late Deputy Theresa Ahearn. She was a much beloved member of our party. She was unique because she was the only woman in our parliamentary party who represented a rural constituency and she brought that perspective to bear in all debates in the Dáil and in our party. We regret her passing but I know her family, friends, neighbours and supporters could not have wished for a better outcome to the by-election than that her place would be taken by Senator Tom Hayes, who is now the new Deputy for Tipperary South.

The issues in the by-election were a local manifestation of many of the national issues. There will be time enough to return to them in the future. Anyone who canvassed in the by-election campaign knows what the issues were. While one might argue that they were local they were, in all cases, the local manifestation of issues which are replicated from one end of the country to the other. However, this is not a day to debate that agenda.

I welcome Deputy Tom Hayes and I congratulate him. I am delighted with his success and I wish him many successful years here.

The Taoiseach

I join the Leader of the Opposition in welcoming Deputy Tom Hayes to the House. I extend the congratulations of the Government and of the Fianna Fáil Party to him on his election. I have no doubt Deputy Hayes will serve the people of Tipperary South well and will be as able and as diligent a Deputy as his predecessor, Deputy Theresa Ahearn. We remember Theresa and her family particularly today.

Deputy Hayes's achievement of last Sunday was a memorable one and must have given him great satisfaction. Last year he was narrowly beaten but he has worked hard since then to achieve success. I join Deputy Noonan in congatulating the family of Deputy Hayes, his wife Marian and his sons Pádraic, Ronan and Cathal, and his supporters in his native Golden. They saw him come close to victory in the previous by-election and today is a wonderful day for them. We would like to see a by-election victory on this side of the House but this is Tom Hayes's day and we do not wish to detract from that.

I commend my own candidate, Councillor Michael Maguire for the time and effort he put into the campaign and for the work he has done for the people of Tipperary South for a long number of years. I am sure he will continue in that work. I acknowledge the contribution of my party's director of elections, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who worked extremely hard in the campaign.

I am aware too of the efforts made by the other candidates, Councillors Phil Prendergast and Denis Landy. The campaign was a good and fair one and I applaud all the candidates for their commitment and for the personal sacrifices they are making for the common good in their constituency. I am sure they will continue with the work they are doing.

I congratulate Deputy Tom Hayes and I wish him well. He knows the Oireachtas inside out and I have no doubt he will settle in very quickly in the Dáil. I hope he enjoys his time in this House. I assure him it will quite some time before he has to fight another election.

I congratulate Deputy Noonan. This was his first election as Leader of Fine Gael and he has had a very convincing win.

Mr. Quinn

I join the Taoiseach in congratulating Deputy Noonan, as Leader of the Fine Gael Party, on securing his first by-election victory. He has two more to go to match my own record. For all our sakes, I hope we do not have another by-election in this Dáil.

I extend warm congratulations to Deputy Tom Hayes. It was a well fought campaign and well prepared over the past 12 months. His success is richly deserved. There is truth in the saying that one must have tasted the bitterness of defeat to relish the sweetness of victory. Deputy Tom Hayes has done that. The party of which he is proud to be a member and all the people who are here should savour this day because their success is richly earned.

A unique historical event took place in Tipperary South. In the duration of one Dáil, the constituency has experienced the tragedy of two premature deaths. The death of my own colleague, Michael Ferris, was followed by that of Theresa Ahearn. I remember both of them today. As Leader of the Labour Party I remember the work done by Ellen Ferris in the last by-election and the sterling work done by Councillor Denis Landy in this one. I thank the Labour Party director of elections, Deputy Brian O'Shea, and all those who worked with him. Denis Landy was an outstanding candidate and will make a great Labour Deputy for the constituency of Tipperary South.

I pay tribute to all the people who participated in the two by-elections, including the candidates for the Workers Unemployment Action Group and all their activists who participated so wholeheartedly in the democratic process.

I thank the people of Tipperary South for their courtesy and patience. They are probably the most canvassed citizens in the history of this country. If there were something akin to jury service which you, a Cheann Comhairle, could issue they should be excused from ever having to serve in a by-election again.

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

I join the Taoiseach and Deputy Quinn in congratulating Deputy Noonan on his success in the by-election and especially in congratulating Deputy Tom Hayes. Since Deputy Hayes came to the Oireachtas he has been a very popular figure and a great champion of the people of what is now his constituency of Tipperary South. I have had the pleasure of getting to know him in the past couple of years.

I am not sure if one's first day in the Dáil is the best day but it is certainly the most memorable. Unlike many Deputies who are elected in a general election and who have two or three friends in the Public Gallery on their first day, Tom has been able to bring a large group of his supporters. For them and for his wife Marian and his three sons, this is a very special day. They see someone for whom they have worked, who has become a friend and who lost on the last occasion get an opportunity to win at last.

I remember the late Theresa Ahearn and the late Michael Ferris, who both died prematurely. It is very unusual to have two by-elections in one Dáil in a small three seat constituency. I hope we do not have another. Everyone here is looking quite healthy and after the long summer recess we will be fit and ready for the upcoming session which will last until May or June of next year.

Mr. Sargent

Ar son an Chomhaontais Ghlais, the Green Party, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Teachta Tomás Ó hAodha go dtí an Dáil. Déanaim comhgairdeas chomh maith le Fine Gael agus lena gceannaire, Michael Noonan, as an mbua iontach a bhain siad i dTiobrad Árainn Theas. Guím beannacht chomh maith ar na hiarrthóirí eile a bhí an-chróga ins an gcomórtas.

It is often said that Oppositions do not win elections, Governments lose them but this result is a tribute to Deputy Tom Hayes's qualities of tenacity, loyalty, ability, devotion and hard work. We recognise that this is his day.

One quality of a successful Deputy which is often talked about but which I have never seen achieved is bi-location. Today, when his supporters – and particularly his look-alike, Pat Hayes – appeared in Leinster House it seemed as if Deputy Hayes had that ability. It took me a little while to realise that it was not Deputy Tom Hayes I saw at every corner. Tribute today must also go to the late Deputy Theresa Ahearn whom we were privileged to know as a friend. It is her memory that we bring to the fore today as well as the victory of Deputy Tom Hayes. It is a very fitting tribute to her memory that Fine Gael are able to celebrate a by-election victory in the House today. The issues that were raised in Tipperary South have set the agenda for the campaign for the general election and that campaign is surely under way right now.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Davern)

I congratulate Deputy Tom Hayes on his victory and I welcome him to the House. He comes from a long tradition of people who have come to this House since the division of our constituency in 1948. I mention General Dick Mulcahy, the late Deputies Crowe and Hogan, Deputy Griffin, who is thankfully still alive, and the late Deputy Theresa Ahearn. I worked with three of those Deputies in the past and I know that I will work with Deputy Hayes as we have done on South Tipperary County Council.

I congratulate Deputy Noonan on the occasion of this his first victory. I was glad he got a punishment in the Munster final and that we had some easing of our pain in that result. I compliment Councillor Michael Maguire on the tremendous hard work he put in. He is a hard-working, honest person and he fought a tremendous campaign in the by-election. I was very proud of his efforts. I also compliment Councillors Prendergast and Landy on their tremendous campaigns. It was by and large a clean by-election campaign and it did not follow the modern political tendency to be dirty. I compliment all participants in the campaign. To those Fine Gael Deputies who visited the constituency I say, do what you promised and look after the boreens from now on, because I will not take all the blame.

A Deputy

There is no money left.

Mr. Davern

I congratulate Deputy Tom Hayes and I will work with him in the interests of the people of South Tipperary.

Mr. Healy

I join Deputy Davern in welcoming Deputy Tom Hayes to the House. He is no stranger to Leinster House and knows his way around here very well. I congratulate and compliment his family, his wife Marian and all his supporters. I look forward to working with him as a Member of this House on behalf of the people of South Tipperary. I worked with him for ten years on South Tipperary County Council and I know him to be a very hard worker and a diligent representative of the people of South Tipperary. I compliment the other candidates, Councillors Michael Maguire and Denis Landy, and, in particular, my colleague, Councillor Phil Prendergast. I also remember today the late Deputy Theresa Ahearn.

Mr. T. Hayes

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle and all the Members who have spoken. Thank you all sincerely for the very warm welcome you have given me.

It is a great honour for anybody to be elected to his national parliament and it is a particular honour for me today because I have been around here and I know Leinster House. It is a great honour to follow in the footsteps of somebody who came from my own locality of Golden, Theresa Scott was her maiden name. If I can do only half the job she did, I will be satisfied. I welcome her husband, Liam, and all my friends and supporters, who are in the Public Gallery. I thank all those who helped me in the election and I look forward to working with all the Members of this House.