I thank the Irish public servants with whom Irish public life is blessed and acknowledge their extraordinarily high quality. I take a particular Irish pride in recognising that the first and only woman to be a permanent representative of a state before the European Union is the Irish EU ambassador Anne Anderson. She and her team from the Department of Foreign Affairs and other Departments are in the engine room preparing for the Presidency. It is proper that I should acknowledge, on the basis of my parliamentary work, the extent of their long engagement in the planning process.