Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Ita Mangan. It may be a cliché but this is sometimes called the information age, and Ms Mangan is the master of information-giving. I refer to the very early stages in her career in the information services in Leeson Street where she established very high standards. She worked there for a good while with a friend of mine, Martin McGarry. It was very difficult to establish and give credibility to a service that was free of charge because people love going to solicitors where they pay a fortune to get advice. However, the advice Ms Mangan was giving free of charge was accurate and worthwhile, and people could make decisions based on the information and advice she provided. In a way she is the author of this entire edifice we see around us now on which so many of us rely. People who do not have a lot of money to get accurate information can, for a minimum charge, be reassured that the information they get will be a very good guide to their actions. I pay tribute to Ms Mangan personally, knowing her work and the credibility she has brought to it.

On information-giving, the courtesy with which it is done and its reliability are very important aspects of information because if people act on it, they want to know they are acting on a firm foundation. It has brought an important resource to civil society which perhaps is not appreciated widely enough. If Ms Mangan were in England, she would be getting an MBE or something similar at this stage because she has built something from the ground up that is very important.