[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING DERMOT GALLAGHER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have come to this Chamber to pay tribute 
to Dermot Gallagher, an Irish diplomat and civil servant who I was 
deeply saddened to hear passed away on January 15, 2017, after a 
lifetime dedicated to public service.
  Dermot Gallagher was a friend of the United States. His career 
overseas was bookended by tours here, having first been posted at the 
Irish consulate in San Francisco in 1971 before serving at the United 
Nations in New York, the Irish Embassy in London, with the European 
Commission in Brussels, as Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, and ultimately 
returning to the U.S. as the Irish Ambassador in Washington.
  He is perhaps best known for his role in the Northern Ireland peace 
process. For decades, Dermot was involved in efforts to bring about 
peace and reconciliation. He was involved in the Sunningdale 
negotiations in 1973, implementation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 
the late 1980s, and ultimately the negotiations and implementation of 
the Good Friday Agreement, when he used his ``emollient style of 
negotiation and diplomacy,'' as former junior minister and former 
Senator Martin Mansergh aptly described, to make significant 
contributions.
  Dermot was also my friend. Over the course of his 6 years as 
Ambassador, my wife Marcelle and I came to know Dermot and his wife, 
Maeve, and I was fortunate to retain his friendship long after he 
returned to Ireland to advance the cause of peace.
  I fondly recall our discussions about the relationship between the 
U.S., and particularly Vermont, and Ireland over dinner while he was 
Ambassador, visiting with him over a decade later when he had returned 
to Ireland and I visited on a trade mission, and the many conversations 
between about our families, our shared heritage, and our passion for 
U.S.-Ireland relations and the cause of peace.
  I shared a personal memory in Ireland nearly 20 years ago that is 
worth sharing again because it speaks to who Dermot was as a person. 
While he was Ambassador, I was discussing my family's Irish ancestry, 
and I told him I wished my father, Howard Francis Leahy, had still been 
with us to know my family was planning a trip to Ireland. Dermot said 
to me, ``Pat, don't you think your father knows?'' It brought tears to 
my eyes. He was as personable and genuine as he was a skillful 
diplomat.
  Perhaps his legacy has been best conveyed by the reaction of his 
former colleagues on learning of his passing, who described him as a 
``gentleman,'' ``distinguished diplomat,'' and a ``brilliant, creative 
and warm human being.'' President Michael D. Higgins noted his 
significant contribution to the peace process. Minister for Foreign 
Affairs Charlie Flanagan lauded his ``talented service,'' marked by 
``great loyalty and constant commitments.'' Prime Minister Enda Kenny 
described him as a ``patriot, an outstanding public servant who 
embodied the best of Ireland and its people.''
  Dermot was all of these things, and he will be greatly missed, but 
affectionately remembered.
  Marcelle and I send our deepest condolences to his wife, Maeve, and 
to their children, Fiona, Aoife, and Ronan.

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