Miriam Lord: Marking of Austin Currie’s legacy prompts return of Enda Kenny to Leinster House

Do not adjust your goggles.

Yes, that IS Enda Kenny pottering into the Dáil during a routine Tuesday session, settling himself outside the gilt filigree railing at the top of the chamber and looking down on his two successors with a sad expression on his face.

He smiled a little now and then, but in a non-judgmental way.

It is unusual to see former taoisigh in Leinster House at the best of times (although Bertie Ahern has put in a few appearances recently). Leo Varadkar doesn’t count as he is a revolving taoiseach on the verge of turning full circle.

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It is highly unusual to see one resurface in the parliament chamber on a sitting day, years after retiring from active politics. Enda hadn’t set foot in the place since bowing out at the 2020 general election. Another former Fine Gael taoiseach, John Bruton, was spotted in another part of the building while yet another former leader, Alan Dukes, also joined the illustrious group of returnees.

They were in Kildare Street for a panel discussion organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation to mark the 54th anniversary of the occupation of a house in the Tyrone village of Caledon by young nationalist MP Austin Currie and two local men in protest at the unfair allocation of housing by the unionist dominated council. The incident, which made that night’s BBC news, led to the setting up of the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland.

When Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó'Fearghail heard about the event he suggested it might coincide with tributes in the Dáil to the civil rights leader, co-founder of the SDLP and former Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, who died in November.

The distinguished visitors gallery was packed, with a sizeable overflow sitting in the main public gallery. Austin’s widow Annita was accompanied by their children Emer, Estelle, Catriona, Dualta and Austin, their grandchildren and wide family. “Daddy was the eldest of 11, so there are a lot of us,” Fine Gael senator Emer told us. “There are at least 35 of us here today.”

The panel discussion took place in the Fine Gael party rooms on the fifth floor and was chaired by Senator Currie. It included contributions from Leo Varadkar, Claire Hanna, Professor Paul Arthur, historian Dr Eamon Phoenix, and a host of former diplomats who were involved in the peace process.

“A lot of people just wanted to share memories, which was great for us, his children,” said Emer. “It was the most extraordinary life.”

Back in the chamber, the Ceann Comhairle spotted Enda sitting way up in the gods. “I note that we are also joined by a distinguished former taoiseach. He is very welcome,” announced Seán Ó'Fearghail.

“Members do not need me to remind them of Austin Currie’s immense contribution to political life on this island,” he said, before inviting expressions of sympathy. “The courage he displayed in his life. As a founding member of the SDLP, Austin Currie helped to change the course of history ... He was, in truth, a leader and a statesman, and his belief in the principles of equality and justice are an example to us all today.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, as Austin’s party leader, began the tributes. “In the last two and a half years we’ve lost three giants of the civil rights movement in Ireland — Seamus Mallon, John Hume and Austin Currie” he began. “They were three of the great pioneers of peace, change and non-violence on our island. Their legacy lives on all around us.”

The Fine Gael leader said Currie was his local TD when he decided to become involved in politics and it was his honour now to pay tribute to him. “He inspired me then and he continues to inspire me today.”

He pointed to Austin’s remarkable achievements as a civil-rights leader for the nationalist community and “how he was a politician of remarkable physical and moral courage who refused to stay silent even when people tried to intimidate and silence him and when he was threatened and attacked.

“To understand him, you have to understand his unshakeable commitment to peace and democracy. Although he and his family, some of whom are present, were subjected to violence, they never once contemplated resorting to it. He always stayed true to his belief — shared with John Hume — that two wrongs could never make a right.

“Like Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi, he knew that a people could be liberated without any need for recourse to violence, sectarianism or hatred.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin echoed his words. While Austin Currie deserved national recognition and respect for his work in the area of children’s rights during his 10 years in the Dáil, his “contribution to Irish politics and Irish life was much more consequential than his service to this house or to government”.

Austin and fellow founding members of the SDLP recognised the power of peaceful protest, said the Taoiseach, carefully emphasising the word “peaceful”.

He reminded the Dáil that “his family home was attacked by loyalists and so-called republicans” on more than 30 occasions.

Speaking as the Minister with responsibility for equality, Roderic O’Gorman of the Green Party told the Dáil he has always been inspired by Austin’s lifelong dedication to campaigning for civil rights for people who were so profoundly discriminated against in Northern Ireland.

Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats said that Austin Currie’s life was under constant threat throughout his political live in the North “yet he remained opposed to all sorts of political violence” while Labour leader Ivana Bacik summed him up as “a man of peace who abhorred the violence of the Troubles and remained committed to non-violence, despite the enormous toll it took on his own family”.

In occupying that council house in Caledon, the young Currie and his companions “showed enormous bravery and courage” said Mattie McGrath of the Rural Independents.

“They lit that candle and that spark eventually ended up in some modicum of fairness for the minority of Catholics and nationalists in Northern Ireland ... I am delighted that I got to know him when he was here as a junior minister.”

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald delivered a rather perfunctory rundown of former junior minister Currie’s political CV, her opening line setting the tone: “Austin Currie, through his long political career, was an influential Irish public figure.”

Expressing her own and her party’s condolences, she tactfully dealt with Sinn Féin’s less than harmonious relationship with constitutional nationalist Currie — he condemned all forms of political violence, in stark contrast to IRA apologists Sinn Féin.

“Whether as a representative of the SDLP or Fine Gael, Austin was often a spirited and determined opponent of my party and we of his politics, but that is the nature of politics,” she said. “As we reflect on his very considerable life and political career, we pay tribute to his service to his constituents and his country.”

Time moves on. And it’s a good thing to see.