As Taoiseach and as leader of Fianna Fáil, I express my sincere sympathy on the death of Kevin Boland. To his wife Cis and children Brendán, Caitlín, Síle and Fachtna, and to his brothers and sisters I send my sympathies and the sympathy of my colleagues.
Kevin Boland came from an illustrious family that made an important contribution to the achievement and consolidation of Irish freedom, as we have it today. He was a patriot, a lover of the Irish language and a passionate Republican. He was a soldier of destiny who never shrank from what he believed that destiny should be. He was passionate about politics and he passionately cared about both his country and about Fianna Fáil which was in his blood.
Bhí grá mór ag Caomhaoin Ó Beoláin don Ghaeilge agus don tír seo. Níor chlaon sé ariamh ón tuairim a bhí aige faoi cad ba chóir a dhéanamh ar son Poblacht na hÉireann. Bhí dúil mhór aige sa phoblacht freisin agus d'oibrigh sé i rith a shaol chun a spriocanna polaitiúla a fháil amach.
Although known as Kevin Boland, it was as Caomhaoin Ó Beoláin that he signed official papers. He was a lover of the language and it played a large role in his identity and politics. Kevin Boland was the third generation of a family that was steeped in the Gaelic revival and republican politics. His grandfather James Boland was born in Manchester and was a member of the Fenians. He went on to become a founder of the GAA. Kevin's uncle Harry and father Gerry were major figures in their own right, whose reputations have stood the test of time. This was the political legacy inherited by Kevin Boland and it was a legacy – as he saw it – to which he was determined to remain true.
At this distance, many people will only remember the important events of 1969 and 1970 but Kevin Boland had a long ministerial career in the epoch-making series of Administrations of Eamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and Jack Lynch, leading into the 1960s . It was a career that began on his first day in the Dáil in 1957 when he was appointed Minister for Defence. From 1961, he was Minister for Social Welfare, showing a strong compassion for the less well off. His outlook was always to favour the have nots. He co-operated with the then Minister for Agriculture Charles Haughey in introducing the farmers' dole.
As Minister for Local Government, he was responsible for the first ever tenant purchase scheme to permit local authority tenants to purchase their homes. As a civil engineer by profession, he would have had a very good understanding of the construction industry. He was famous for his impatience with Dublin conservationists and titled landlords. These controversies contributed to the formation of a more balanced approach subsequently.
His personal life was characterised by his modest lifestyle which differed little from the working people and small farmers of County Dublin whom he represented. He had very austere views about political fund raising but he lived in a time when it was the Minister's prerogative to draw the electoral boundaries until the system was fundamentally reformed by Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in the late 1970s . He carried out these duties with characteristic efficiency. The events of 1969 and 1970 are well known. They are all the better known because Kevin wrote several intelligent and challenging books in the intervening years, setting out his views on these events as well as the wider issues relating to the state of the nation. It would be fair to say that he expressed some disillusionment not just with the Governments of his day, but even with the founder of his party. He acknowledged that he might not have fully grasped at the time the essential moderation and subtlety of de Valera's statesmanship in relation to Northern Ireland. It will be for history to be the final judge and for posterity to make up its mind on the prudence and realism of the positions of him and others when the Northern crisis broke.
Kevin Boland was the first to leave the stage. He left his Government and, honouring his party pledge, resigned his seat in Dáil Éireann on an issue of policy and as a matter of integrity. However, Kevin Boland in no sense left politics. He founded Aontacht Éireann, which was not a successful political venture, and long afterwards continued to fight for principles in which he believed, both politically and constitutionally, in a way that precluded compromise. His taking of a constitutional case in 1974 contributed to loss of confidence in the Sunningdale Agreement. His steadfast adherence to his belief was respected. Nevertheless, many of us feel a certain sadness that this gifted man, who had a long and positive ministerial career over 13 years, felt compelled to cut himself off from mainstream political life, thus limiting the possibility of being able to make further constructive contributions to public life. He argued that Fianna Fáil had left him rather than the other way around and he had a small but faithful band of followers who, for a time at least, shared his view, although most of them returned to the fold.
In the history of Dáil Éireann, only a handful have come into the House as Kevin Boland did by being appointed a Minister on his first day as a Deputy. None has left this House as he did, entirely of his own volition and in a blaze of controversy. Having fought all his life for what he believed, I trust he has now found his eternal and honourable rest. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.