Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As there are no other contributions and this is potentially the last meeting of the committee - if the witnesses have been listening to the news, they will know a general election will be called on Friday - I wish to acknowledge the Chairman, who is not here at the moment, Jackie Cahill. He has been a fantastic Chairman of this group for the past four or more years. He was very diligent and capable and did a fantastic job and was dedicated to making sure that everybody got time to speak. He was also very fair when it came to witnesses. I wish to acknowledge Jackie. I know he is not running for re-election. His ability to chair a meeting and his commitment to the agricultural industry need to be acknowledged here this evening.

I thank Christy Haughton and his team, who have been great ambassadors for the Civil Service and done a fantastic job in making sure this committee has worked efficiently and capably. They deal with correspondence coming in and out, witnesses, the publication of reports and thorny issues from nitrates to TB to ash dieback. They are a very competent team. I wish to acknowledge all of the work they have done and I wish them the very best for when this committee is re-established. This is the last meeting of this committee. I thank Christy and his team and I wish every member of the committee the best of luck in their endeavours, whatever they intend to do in the next few weeks. Whenever this committee meets again, I hope it will be successful in its work.