Thomas Anthony Finnegan

"The value of a democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes. Today let us pray that our democracy will always embody and uphold its present core value, the dignity of the individual human person. What we sorely need in Ireland are more informed and articulate people who can challenge the idea that a person's religious beliefs should be relegated to the private sphere."

"He was, by nature, a man with vision, who was blessed by God with many opportunities to realise it. He always seemed to be in the right place when the opportunity for change presented itself and allowed him room to be creative and to create something new for the future."