Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution in the chamber on the life of the wonderful Nessa Delaney, who tragically passed away on 30 October 2022, aged 58, in Ireland. I want to acknowledge in the gallery with us this evening the presence of His Excellency the Irish ambassador, Tim Moore, and his charming wife, Patricia. I note in Ireland there are people who will be watching this, including the Australian ambassador Gary Gray, and Nessa's family and friends. Nessa was introduced to me as the wife of the Irish Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Noel White. Irish born herself, she charmed me immediately. I knew at once that I had met a remarkable Irish woman. Nessa soon made herself known to everyone, everywhere, in Canberra and she was very, very active in our local community in culture, in charity, and in the arts. She was everywhere from sausage sizzles at schools to more formal settings such as the Governor-General's residence and of course everything in between. Wherever she was, she was a welcome presence, a wonderful addition to everything that was happening. I certainly enjoyed her wonderful generosity as a hostess on many occasions. She was a truly remarkable ambassador for Ireland and for great women who serve their nation with distinction. In 2013 working here in Canberra with the National Film and Sound Archive, Nessa Delaney conceived and delivered Canberra's participation in a world-wide reading of Ulysses. She delighted visiting groups with her guided tours of the embassy during the annual heritage days in Canberra.

I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Parliamentary Friendship Group of Ireland, led at that time by the Honourable Brendan O'Connor, and one of our great former colleagues here in the Senate John 'Wacka' Williams, who was very proud of his long-distant Irish heritage.

Nessa Delaney and His Excellency Noel White presided over a vibrant and thriving embassy and home, one that stretched out warm hands of welcome to all who wished to share in the light and joy of Ireland and its steady stream of Irish representatives. Many senators and members and Australian thought leaders enjoyed a meal at the table at the Irish embassy.

Nessa was an enormously impressive person, an accomplished published writer—polyglot. She had, in her own right, a brilliant career. Serving as a senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs, indeed, Nessa Delaney served in Dublin, Paris and Ottawa and in senior capacity in the EU Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

Nessa's light touched hearts across the globe, and her funeral in Carlow was attended by friends and admirers from as far away as the US and Australia. At that funeral her husband Noel said of Nessa that she was 'a courageous, determined, ambitious, intelligent—fiercely intelligent—kind, gentle, engaging, warm, witty, funny human being. All these epithets and more—elegance, empathy and grace—are justified; they're scattered liberally through the tributes that have poured in from around the world'.

Nessa was a wonderful mother and she absolutely adored her boys. As Noel said and as was reported in the Carlow newspaper, the most important thing, the one that trumped all else was her boys—Daniel, Joseph and Patrick. She adored them, supported them, backed them unconditionally. She lived a responsibility to deliver them to the world as upstanding, decent young men and good citizens. Her gift to the world, she would have been proud of them today, as I am.

To be leaving this world at the age of 58, so clearly talented, with so much more to give and clearly very loved, is a great loss. She was a great participant in the international democracy in which we participate. The relationships that we form with the ambassadors from across the globe are vital not only to our edification as human beings but to our trade relationships and our contact with one another. Nessa brought all of the accomplishments necessary to that role, and she was a fine support to Noel.

She is survived by Noel; her sons, Daniel, Joseph and Patrick; and her four sisters, Catherine, Jean, Pat and Jennifer. I pass my deepest condolences to her wonderful family and pray that her memory remains a blessing and that the light that she brought into all our worlds remains with us. Rest in peace, Nessa Delaney.