Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Well said, Senator Flynn. Congratulations to Senator Ahearn on his elevation today. I thank Martin, Bridget and all of the staff here, including clerical staff, the ushers who are so helpful every day, the gardaí and the security forces who keep the House safe, and Darren and all the catering and bar staff who look after our needs daily. I thank everyone who has been involved behind the scenes and run everything so smoothly over the past five-odd years.

I wish Senators Malcolm Byrne, Kyne and Carrigy the very best in running for office in the Dáil. I do not know if anybody else present is running for the Dáil. Indeed if Senator Keogan or Senator Black want to run for the Dáil, they would be two exceptional candidates considering they are on the industrial and commercial panel. I feel they would be two exceptional TDs, but I am working on that one.

I will make a comment on three losses, two that have a Meath note. I will never forget the first day my good friend, Senator Cassells was elected. We put a great push into his very first campaign to get him elected to the Dáil. Nothing made me happier than to see his excitement on that day. He was at home and we discussed it on the phone and he was going to polish his shoes to get ready to go over to Navan that day. That is a moment in time I will not forget.

Senator Ned O’Sullivan has been a great servant and has always had a very nice, secure and safe word to say to people who were starting off. They could be overambitious and Ned would always be very rounded and gave very good advice so I appreciated that over the years.

Coming back to the Meath part of it, I was very sad to lose my great parliamentary assistant, Damien O’Reilly, during this term who was a councillor and great friend to this House. I still think about him every day and it was a great loss to this House, his family, his young child, his mother, his partner and everybody. It was so sad how everything turned out but, thankfully, his family is coping.

I thank the auctioneers, the IPAV, who nominated me to this House and, please God, will nominate me again. We have worked on quite a lot of legislation on their behalf and, God willing, we will continue to do so. Over the coming months after we get the general election out of the way and the work we will do with our local TDs - Robert Troy, in my case, and Joe Flaherty - we will see all the councillors who have been so good to me during my time as a Member of the House and on whose behalf I will continue to work, as well as outgoing Senators and newly elected TDs. I thank everybody for making this such a nice experience over recent years.