Éamon Ó Cuív praises Deputy O'Keefe's service and funding skill
Éamon Ó Cuív paid tribute to Deputy O'Keefe's parliamentary service and ministerial work, highlighting his role as Minister for Rural Affairs and his ability to secure funding for local projects. He presented Deputy O'Keefe as a role model for leveraging government resources and described public affection observed during a hospital visit.
Tribute to Deputy O'Keefe
The speaker commended Deputy O'Keefe for his outstanding parliamentary service over many years and for his ministerial contributions. He credited the deputy with championing Rural Affairs and with playing a key role in the creation of that department.
Funding and advocacy
Éamon Ó Cuív described Deputy O'Keefe's skill in leveraging funding from other government departments, saying he would often achieve a small percentage of the total sought but consistently secured what was needed. Examples cited included obtaining support for a school on an island and for medical facilities.
Role modelling for colleagues
The speaker suggested that Deputy Shanahan could look to Deputy O'Keefe as a model for extracting resources from the system and making compelling cases for local projects. He praised the deputy's capacity to persuade colleagues and officials across departments.
Public response and hospital visit
Éamon Ó Cuív recounted a recent hospital visit where he could feel the affection and loyalty towards Deputy O'Keefe, and he said communities were proud of who they had elected to the Dáil. The remarks underscored the personal esteem in which the deputy was held.
Language and parliamentary context
The speaker noted he would address the issue in English and, for those less proficient in Irish, framed his tribute to be widely understood in the parliamentary debate. The comments formed part of a wider contribution in the Dáil.
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I hope that this is another one that I have learned and I have an opportunity to learn. I have a great time and I can see that my mother is good. I have a great time to learn how to do this. I have a great time to learn as to learn. I have a great day. Mary is all that when he was a father, he was a father to the father of the grandmother. And he was in the early days of the year and he was the only one who was the mother. And he was the only one who was in the middle of the grandmother. Thank you. Well, I'm going to tell you that I'm going to talk to you about the English language. And I'm going to talk to you about the first time, but I'm not going to talk to you about the first time, but I'm going to talk to you about the first time. And just for the benefit of those, maybe not as proficient in Irish, I just want to pay tribute to Deputy O'Keefe for his outstanding parliamentary service to this country over quite a number of years, and also as a minister. I have never come across a minister, particularly when he was Minister for Rural Affairs, and he was the champion of that department, the creation of it, but who could leverage funding from every other government department, and he would inevitably come up with maybe 2% of the eventual allocation of what he was looking for, but he always got it, whether it was for a school on an island, or whether it was for a medical facility or whatever, and he would always make a compelling case for it, and I would suggest to Deputy Shanahan that perhaps he's a good role model in terms of leveraging from the system and ministers and so on. He created an art form in terms of having that capacity, but I was out in the hospital the other day, and one could feel the affection for him in O'Keefe, and the loyalty to him, and the sense of they being proud of who they elected to Dáil Ierden, to represent their community. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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