Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I join in the remarks made by the Chair and colleagues in congratulating the Minister on three decades of excellent public service. He has given really principled, committed and thoughtful public service. I had the privilege of being the Seanad spokesperson on communications, energy and natural resources during one of the Minister's previous ministries some years ago. We worked on the Broadcasting Act together and the debate on this huge legislation lasted days. I found it so pleasant to work with the Minister on that. There were lots of amendments, including from us at the time. It was a major process. It has always been a pleasure to work with him. He has done so much good. His work is so principled and so visionary. He has altered the perspective of so many people in this country and changed awareness in a dramatic way over three decades. It is quite incredible how there are virtually no climate deniers left. They were in the majority when he started. He has achieved so much, including practically.

I want to mention something that the Minister has done that has had a great and beneficial impact on my community, and it was alluded to in a different way by the Chair at the beginning. I am so happy about the way the Minister has increased the number of buses between country towns. That has had an enormous impact on the lives of ordinary people. For example, there is now a bus service between Dundalk and Cavan town six times a day, which is an incredible change from virtually none or one every other day. As the Minister will be more than aware, there is the potential to have more bus services in that context. Also, fares for public transport have been reduced. The Minister has done things that impact in a huge way on ordinary lives and at the end of the day that is what we are all about.