Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are a committee with a very good Chair. We are very involved and we are writing a report about rural development and the sustaining of rural communities. It is the oldest story in the world, as out the door goes the experience and we start all over again. I am not ageist. One of the recommendations is to use the brilliance that has been there. The witness has made a distinctive and distinguished contribution and it cannot just go out the door. He has also made a very honest mark on it by saying it is useless not only to ask him to stay but to ask anyone else to stay, even the Michael O'Learys of this world, mar dhea, if we are not going to be listened to, if we are choked, money is not released to projects and creativity will not be answered. That is the reason I asked the question of the witness. It is not about jobs but rather experience and knowledge that we should be aware of. He is the first person I have seen in my six years here who has said he will not continue as no one is paying a blind bit of notice. He said it in a far more elegant way than I have put it and in a far more political way. He is right in what he outlined. It is nothing short of a disgrace.