Sean Doherty 1945-2005
Describing Mr Doherty as a colleague and friend of nearly 30 years, Mr Ahern recalled that both men had entered Dáil Éireann together for the first time in 1977.
Mr Ahern said the controversial and colourful Roscommon politician “was a man of very considerable ability and a strong personality” whose company and conversation were “sought out and were never dull.”
Former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds also paid tribute to his former colleague calling him “a man of considerable skill and brain power” and a “first class constituency TD.”
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said: “Sean Doherty was a controversial minister, a diligent member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and a hard-working constituency TD.”
Former constituency colleague and Fine Gael TD, Denis Naughten, described Mr Doherty as “political legend in his lifetime.”
“Those who knew him personally will remember him as someone of extreme wit and good humour and who could always see the lighter side of life events when times were difficult.”
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said Mr Doherty’s enthusiasm had been vital in improving opportunities for renewable energy and facing up to the dangers of flooding along the River Shannon basin.
Mr Doherty became a TD in 1977 before being named Minister for Justice in 1982 by Charles Haughey. His time in the department was marred by controversy, including the tapping of journalists’ phones.
Ten years later, when Mr Doherty finally broke his silence over the issue on national TV, Mr Haughey subsequently resigned.
More recently he was praised for his chairing of the PAC investigation into cost overruns at Iarnród Éireann.
Mr Doherty is survived by his wife Maura and four daughters, Rachael, Cara, Leah and Evelyn.
Mr Doherty’s mother died last month.
THE cultural intricacies, the almost religious ‘insider’ feeling of Fianna Fáil were threaded through his DNA.
His confession, with its implications for the man he believed had virtually created him and certainly empowered him, would put him outside of that team, that family. He would be isolated, despised.
Now the hotel room was booked, the notification gone to media, there was no turning back from the truth he had decided to tell.
He could not have been more frightened had his life been threatened.
But most of all, Sean Doherty was sad. Infinitely, bleakly, sad.
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