Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)

I also welcome this Bill. It is important that such mechanisms are in place to support businesses throughout the country.

I commend the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, and his colleagues in the Department on the many pro-enterprise measures they are implementing and the supports they are providing. It is a very difficult time for businesses at the moment, with the cost of business in particular being a massive challenge, among others, but Bills like this are a help and part of the suite of measures to try to assist businesses to grow into the future. I acknowledge the Bill being brought to the House today. I know it will not pass all Stages today, but hopefully it will be one of the priorities in the Thirty-fourth Dáil, whenever that happens in December or January.

As it is my last time addressing Dáil Éireann, I issue a warm, heartfelt thank you to everybody in the Oireachtas. I thank the entire team for all of their support and assistance and service over the past 14 years. It has been a massive honour and a privilege to be part of the Oireachtas. Certainly, from the first day I came in here in February 2011, I always felt very welcome and everybody was incredibly helpful and supportive. There is a fantastic, dedicated team of people who come to work here in Leinster House every day, many of whom are doing it under the radar, behind the scenes and playing a massive part in this country's development and all of the good work that is happening in Ireland. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for her courtesy and her fairness when she is in the Chair. I also acknowledge Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the outgoing Ceann Comhairle, who has been a fantastic Ceann Comhairle for the past nine years. He has done a great job and I wish everyone well in the future. I particularly thank the people of Kerry, who elected me to Dáil Éireann three times. It has been an enormous privilege to serve in the national parliament on behalf of County Kerry, first Kerry South, and then the entire county since 2016.

It is an honour that has been bestowed on very few people since the foundation of the State and the pure privilege of that is not lost on me. I always did my best for people. I am sorry if there were things I did not get done. I am glad there were certain things I did get done. Many of us who are here realise that we are only ever passing through Dáil Éireann. We are only here for a while. We do our best while we are here and try to make as much of a positive contribution as we can. Again, I thank the people of Kerry for giving me that opportunity to represent them in Dáil Éireann.

I also thank the Fine Gael Party and members of the Fine Gael party in County Kerry who have campaigned for me in five elections since 2004 at local and national level for their unwavering support over the years, as well as our team of public representatives and councillors in Kerry and former Senators, colleagues and TDs. Their support over the years was always huge.

In particular, I want to thank my family and immediate family for their support always, my wife Róisín and two boys, Mícheál and Brendáin, who will hopefully be seeing a lot more of me from now on. When I came in here, I did not have any children. I am leaving here now with two little boys. They are 11 and nine and I am looking forward to being around for the remaining years of their childhood. It is something that has been a massive influence in terms of my decision to leave here. However, none of it could have been done without the support of my wife Róisín over the past 14 years, who made enormous sacrifices to enable me to be able to continue my career here. I am looking forward to having a normal life at home now over the next while.

To everybody contesting the election, I wish them all very well. It is a difficult and stressful time for everybody, but it has never been as important that we have good people elected to this House into the future. I hope everybody who is contesting the election gets through the campaign safely and soundly. I ask that there would be decency for candidates on the doors. Everyone is stepping forward and basically putting their necks on the line to stand for public office, nearly always for the right reasons. I ask that courtesy would be shown to people who are standing for public office. It is a very difficult job to do. Putting his or her name forward for public office is the most public form of job interview a person will ever do. I hope the election will be fair and that there will be fair treatment of all candidates no matter what their party or non-party background is.

Finally, I acknowledge all my colleagues here in Leinster House as well, that is, the elected Members. Very often on television, people will see the conflict and the arguments and debates in here. Behind the scenes, however, what I leave here feeling most is that there are many friendships across the board and party divides and non-party divides. I leave here after 14 years with so many really good friends and having met so many very decent people who are in politics for the right reasons - to serve their country and serve the public. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to serve with those people as well.

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