Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the members of the Technical Group, I wish to add my thanks to Kieran Coughlan and good wishes for his retirement after 40 years of service to the Houses, 23 of them in the Dáil. It is an extraordinary service over an extraordinary length of time.

Members of the Technical Group probably have more reason than most to be in contact with the Clerk of the Dáil's office. The nature of our group is slightly different from that of the political parties, so we always have some testing questions for the Clerk. It is very important that we feel we can approach the Clerk and know that we will be received with knowledge, trust and integrity, and that is what we have found with Kieran Coughlan. In addition, he has the personal quality of being an incredibly nice and likeable man. That greatly adds to the position. For most of us, he was the first person we formally met on first arriving to Leinster House following success in an election. In my case, it was a by-election, followed by a general election. As Deputy Ó Caoláin said, some of us were knocking on the door for a very long time. It was a great occasion to sign the roll and it is a time each of us will remember in our own way.

The institutional memory in an office is not just about documenting the various rules and regulations, but also about how they are arrived at and shaped. As has been said, Kieran Coughlan was a moderniser, so it was not only about documenting but also about shaping the changes in the Dáil.

There have been seven different Taoisigh and a large number of Governments during Kieran Coughlan's time as Clerk of the Dáil. It must be incredibly difficult to consider the qualities his successor will be required to bring to the position. I can just imagine the type of advertisement which might be placed in the media. It will probably refer to the need to have a thick skin, being willing to work long hours and possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of the workings of the Parliament and an ability to work with a wide range of individuals. The person who succeeds the current Clerk will have to do all this and also be a constitutional officeholder of the highest integrity. He or she will have a big pair of shoes to fill.

I wish Kieran Coughlan a healthy and happy retirement. I hope it will be a very long retirement.

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