Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I join everyone else in paying tribute to Charlie Bird and express, on behalf of People Before Profit, our condolences and sympathies to his wife and all his family.

As has already been mentioned, one group of people who will always be grateful to Charlie Bird is the Stardust families, for his relentless commitment to their campaign for justice. I am sure, as they await the outcome of the current inquest, they will be deeply grateful for the support Charlie Bird gave them. It is also perhaps worth mentioning that he was a socialist, a left winger when he was younger and I like to think the tenacity he had as a journalist owed something to his left-wing origins. He also inspired us incredibly with his bravery in the face of motor neuron disease and that can only have been an incredibly difficult time for him and all his family. Given the iconic figure he was as a journalist and the universal respect he had as a journalist, of the public and of his fellow colleagues, it is perhaps a moment to consider just how important public service broadcasting is, at a time when it is somewhat in peril. We remember how he personified the best of what is public service broadcasting.

I pass on my deepest sympathies on our behalf to his family. He will be greatly missed by us all.

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