John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)

That is so when those outside the House clamour loudest for their agendas to be preferred to the requirements of basic justice. If that duty gives way to satisfying the needs and appetites of others outside the House, no amount of good work will restore confidence in our democratic institutions.

I would have hoped to have been given an opportunity to answer each of the charges in a calm and reasonable forum. I would have hoped that this House could have allowed me a few days to put my side of these events on the record. However, patience in aid of fairness gave way, alas, to impatience to surf the political wave of competitive outrage. Lest it be said that the failure to give me an opportunity to defend myself has somehow embittered me, I wish to acknowledge that the failure to afford me a right to be fairly heard arises from weakness rather than malice.

I now leave this appointment in the knowledge that the Office of An Ceann Comhairle has been saved from further inappropriate political controversy. That has been my principal concern and it is what commanded my silence to date. There is some small satisfaction in that. I also content myself in the knowledge that friend and foe alike have acknowledged that I have discharged my duties in a fair manner without fear or favour. Denied my constitutional right to defend myself by a pre-emptive assertion of no confidence, I can only hope that the method by which my departure was contrived will be seen for what it is - a denial of due process. This was a wrong done to the Office of Ceann Comhairle. That it should have been perpetrated from the floor of this House bodes ill for the body politic.

I thank publicly my wife, Kate Ann, and family. I also thank the Clerk of the Dáil, Kieran Coughlan, and his staff for the wonderful service they have given to me since June 2007. I also thank my private secretary, Brendan Conroy, who has always worked above and beyond the call of duty, as well as his staff. I also thank my personal staff for all their hard and diligent work over the years.

I take this opportunity to thank my friends and supporters in south Kerry and beyond. I also thank Members of this House for the courtesy they have extended to me at all times. I thank the staff of the House for their unfailing kindness. Finally, to the men and women of the Fourth Estate, it has been the best of times and it has been the worst of times.

I have had the great honour and privilege to serve in this House for almost 23 years. I came into this House as an honest man and never asked anything of any man. I never took anything from any man. I never could and never would as to do otherwise would be to deny who I am and from whom I came. Those who think otherwise do not know me and never will. I will walk as proudly out of this Chair as the day I walked into it.

In the end, one must be true to one's people and true to oneself, and I have been true to both. Finally, while I may have been forced out of office by an unfair procedure, only the people of south Kerry have the right to exclude me from political life. They have had a good opportunity to judge me, my standards and motives, as well as my commitment to this country for almost 23 years. I now look forward to representing the interests of the constituents of Kerry South to the best of my ability. Guím rath Dé oraibh go léir agus go deo. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

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