TÁNAISTE BRIAN Cowen has said that his election to the positions of taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil next Wednesday will be tinged with personal sadness.
Mr Cowen's uncle, the last surviving brother from his father's family, died only a week before it became known that the Laois-Offaly TD would become the next taoiseach.
"Last week we buried my uncle, Fr Andrew, who was a Cistercian monk in Roscrea. Two months ago, my father's eldest brother passed away. That was Michael, an engineer with the local authority and a former vice-chairman of An Bord Pleanála.
"It was very sad that both did not live on a short while longer to this week. My dad is long gone. He would have been proud if he were still alive. And his only surviving brother only passed away last week, which has [tinged] this occasion with sadness for me."
Mr Cowen's father, Ber Cowen, was a TD. When he died suddenly in 1984 he was still in his early 50s. Brian Cowen, then 24, won the subsequent byelection to become the youngest member of the Dáil. He was co-opted on the county council in the same year, remaining as a councillor until 1992.
He was first appointed a minister by Albert Reynolds when he became taoiseach in 1992.
Mr Cowen was speaking in Tullamore on Saturday, shortly after it was confirmed that he was the only person who had been nominated for the position. He will be selected as taoiseach-designate by Fianna Fáil's 77 eligible TDs on Wednesday.
He pointed out that he was the first minister to be appointed from Co Offaly but that his elevation as taoiseach was a singular honour.
"There has been great sporting success in this county. It gave a huge lift to everybody and there was also a great self-belief. I suppose something like this is a big talking point. I was the first minister appointed from Offaly. And obviously I'm the first to reach this position," he said.
"We have never succumbed to that out-and-out partisanship here. We work pragmatically together when the elections are over. It's still the dominant attitude here. I had good relationships with Tom [Parlon of the PDs] and Olwyn [Enright of Fine Gael], and now with Charlie Flanagan [also Fine Gael]."
Mr Cowen said that his family had been involved in politics, on a local and national level, since the 1930s.
"There have been three generations of this family involved, two in this generation [his brother Barry is a county councillor]." He continued: "And all those supporters and activists down that line who have supported [my family]. I am very aware and very proud of all those friends when this honour that is bestowed on me."
Moreover, in a statement issued on his behalf on Saturday, Mr Cowen also said he was deeply honoured by the confidence shown in him by the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.