Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

L (—) (): I rise tonight with a very heavy heart to pay tribute to a very beautiful woman, Nessa Delaney. Nessa was the wife of the former Irish Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Mr Noel White, who was in that role from 2012 until 2016. I'd like to acknowledge the presence here tonight of the current Irish ambassador, Mr Tim Mawe, and his wife, Trish, to pay their respects to Nessa Delaney. Sadly, Nessa passed away on Sunday 30 October 1922 at Dublin's Blackrock Clinic at the age of 58 after a very long battle with cancer. In his eulogy at her funeral mass in Ireland, Noel told the congregation that Nessa favoured brevity in public speaking, and I will do my best to live up to her standards.

Nessa's own extremely impressive career included time as a senior official in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, serving in Dublin, Ottawa and Paris. She also served for many years in a senior capacity at the EU Council of Ministers in Brussels. I recall a terrific visit with Nessa and Noel in Brussels. We stayed at the Irish embassy and were given a personal tour of the site of the Battle of Waterloo before a wander through the magnificent chocolate shops in Brussels.

At her funeral in Ireland recently, Noel spoke of the many tributes to Nessa that poured in from around the world. Many of those tributes to which he referred came from here in Australia, and rightly so. Listening to Senator O'Neill's tribute to Nessa last night, I was reminded that Australia has benefited over the years from the enormous contribution to the nation from Irish people, particularly Irish women. Nessa Delaney embodied that tradition. It's no surprise that Nessa shared a friendship based on mutual respect with another great Australian, fiercely proud of her own Irish heritage and well-known in this parliament—our friend and former colleague the late Susan Ryan.

Nessa Delaney engaged with this country—its history, its landscape, its arts and its culture. She was curious about Australia and fascinated by it. Nessa loved its people, its cultural and artistic heritage, and the natural environment. She revelled in what she once described as the 'shimmering emptiness of the Hay Plains' as she and her family—her husband, three boys and a dog—undertook the long road trip from the ACT to South Australia.

Nessa loved South Australia, and in the past my wife and I were very pleased to host Nessa and Noel at our vineyard in the Clare Valley—of course named after that famous Irish county. Nessa was particularly inspired by our Jesuit neighbours in the Seven Hills Monastery, and by the deeply spiritual cottage where Mother Mary MacKillop, Australia's only saint, once resided.

Nessa was a loving and much-loved wife and mother. During a recent trip to Europe, I was able to offer my condolences in person to Noel and the boys: Daniel, Joseph and Patrick. It's also appropriate that we pay tribute in this place and that we acknowledge her contribution to Australia and to Ireland's relations with Australia.

We are deeply saddened by Nessa Delaney's untimely departure from this life. Her death has deprived her family of a loving wife and mother. It has deprived Ireland and Europe of a dedicated public servant and Australia of a great friend. I offer my deepest condolences to Nessa's extended family, especially to her sister-in-law, Mary White, who is an intensivist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and to her family, as well as to all of Nessa's friends and all of those who knew her. May she now rest in peace.