Mr Des Hanafin (FF), who has been fighting a long battle against illness, made a rare appearance in the House yesterday to pay a tribute to his great friend and party colleague, Mr Paddy McGowan, who died recently.
Following tributes from all sides, lasting almost 90 minutes, the sitting of the Seanad was adjourned as a mark of respect to the Donegal man, who had been in public life for four decades.
Mr McGowan how as was the longest-serving member, known as the "father of the House". Mr Hanafin noted with sadness that the title now passed to him.
The Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Mr Brian Mullooly, described Mr McGowan, first elected to the Seanad in 1965, as an extremely hard-working and respected public representative. He had been an excellent contributor to debates and had shown passion and conviction.
Emphasising the determination with which Mr McGowan had sought to raise a variety of matters, Mr Mullooly said it would be a brave or a foolhardy cathaoirleach who would dare to interrupt the senator when he was in full flight.
"In fact, whenever he entered the chamber for the Order of Business carrying a glass of water in his hand, I resigned myself that I had already lost the battle."
The Leader of the House, Mr Donie Cassidy, said that from the time of his election to Donegal County Council in 1958, Mr McGowan had worked with the greatest diligence for the people of his native county. He had also done an extraordinary amount of work to foster good cross-Border relations.
Mr Maurice Manning, Fine Gael leader in the House, described Mr McGowan as a great Donegal patriot.
Eighteen Fianna Fail members joined in the tributes, for which many members of the McGowan family were present.
One of the most moving paeans came from senior Fianna Fail senator Mr Willie Farrell, who recalled how his colleague had dealt with a bureaucratic stone wall when an elderly female constituent had sought to have a new door fitted to her council house. Mr McGowan had taken matters into his own hands, said Mr Farrell.
He had gone to the council depot, had picked out a door and had instructed that the county manager be informed of his action. A man with some knowledge of carpentry, he had then proceeded to install the door at the constituent's house.
Subsequently, the county manager had informed him by letter that an engineer would be calling to inspect the work. Mr McGowan had returned the official notification with the addition of the words: "The door is fitted. Mission accomplished. Don't waste your engineer's time."