David Norris (Independent)

It is unusual for somebody who is not a leader to be allowed to speak and I am grateful for the opportunity. I usually deprecate these tributes, often to a long-lost Member of the House, as I have always felt that we waste an enormous amount of time in clichés and platitudes and that there is a level of insincerity and unreality about it. Today, however, we are not in the presence of the dead, thank God, we are in the presence of the living, that of somebody who has really enriched our lives. On this unusual occasion I can speak with a full heart and sincerity when I say it came as a surprise that Tony O'Reilly was retiring – he is much too young to go. While the Leader referred to another person of the same name, there is only one Tony O'Reilly as far as I am concerned.