Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy Seanad Éireann — 2025-05-14 ============================================================ Mark Daly (FF), Administrative Panel Yesterday, a number of Members mentioned the death of a former Member of the House, Paddy O'Toole. Paddy was known as a hard-working Cabinet member from 1977 to 1987. Prior to that, he served in the Thirteenth Seanad from 1973 to 1977 and in the Seventeenth Seanad in 1987. He was a native of Doolough in Erris in north County Mayo. He was a primary school teacher just outside Ballina prior to his political career. He was nominated to the Seanad in 1973 and elected to the Dáil in 1977, and remained a Deputy for a decade. In that time he served in various ministerial roles, including Gaeltacht, defence, fisheries and forestry. He served Ireland during the very difficult times in the 1970s and made a significant contribution to public life. He was known as a skilled politician, as evidenced by his remarkable political career. He was also a Gaeilgeoir, a proud Irish speaker. He was dedicated to Mayo. Indeed, he was one of the few people to see his county win all-Ireland championships. Please God he will see Mayo winning an all-Ireland from heaven at some stage in the future. Paddy was steeped in his community and his political career was marked by public service. Despite all his successes, he was a humble man who always had his feet on the ground. I convey our condolences to Paddy's wife, Jacqueline, his children, Jackie, John, Padraig and Helen, his sister, Maureen, his grandchildren and his friends and other family members. The Leader will propose a minute's silence at the end of the Order of Business. I welcome to the Gallery students from Rush National School, who are guests of Deputy Grace Boland. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-05-14/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-05-14