Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

This is an historic day for Seanad Éireann. As Leader of the House on behalf of all the Members I welcome our Taoiseach. He has been very supportive over the years and his continued support has been much appreciated. We are honoured to have him here in our presence today. We welcome him as Taoiseach of Ireland and as someone who has shown wholehearted commitment to peace and reconciliation among the people on this island.

It must be a matter of great pride for the Taoiseach as he stands down from office to know that he was one of the prime movers in bringing lasting peace to our country. Although there were many involved in the success that is now a peace in Northern Ireland and all of Ireland, he was the prime architect of this peace. When many would have lost patience, he never gave up. He remained focused on his goal, displaying extraordinary courage and wisdom. The challenges posed were enormous, to remove the causes of conflict, of which there were many, overcome the legacy of history and heal the deep divisions of the past.

The Taoiseach recognised that for an agreement to be acceptable to all involved, it must take into account the various traditions on this island and encourage tolerance, equality and mutual respect. This could only be achieved by bringing all parties together and encouraging a consensus on the way forward. This is one of the Taoiseach's strongest talents. No one else that I know has had the same success in pulling people together from all parts of the island of Ireland.

When Fianna Fáil went into Government in 1997 with our partners the Progressive Democrats, many people on the island said the Government did not have a chance of survival. Time has proved them wrong. It not only survived but was extremely successful. Those of us who have been around for quite a long time as Members of this House and of the other House, can say this was the most successful time in our country's history.

The survival and success came about because of the Taoiseach's personal qualities, his great ability to focus on the task at hand and his capacity to understand and accept other viewpoints and traditions. This is the reason that Government survived and the reason he was elected successfully and consecutively three times by the people of Ireland. This has only been achieved by one other Taoiseach in the history of our country.

Deputy Ahern was also the Taoiseach that gave us the five-year term, a great relief for Senators. When I started out as a Member of this House in 1982, there were three general elections and three Seanad elections held in the space of 17 months. One can imagine the difficulties and the amount of work done by any Member of Parliament in that period.

This country has been a much better place because of Deputy Ahern's stewardship as Taoiseach over the past 11 years. So much has been achieved. Ireland under his leadership has experienced unprecedented economic prosperity. A sign of this prosperity is that one third of all income earners are outside the tax net compared with a little more than one quarter in 1997. In 1997 and 1998, 384,000 earners were exempt from tax and today, thankfully, the number of earners outside the tax net is 878,000. The social welfare budget has trebled since 1997 and this prosperity has also enabled the Government to place special emphasis on the need to develop Ireland's infrastructure, which is seeing an investment of €10 million per day.

Our economic growth averaged 7% over the past ten years, compared to 3% of our EU partners. This has contributed to unemployment being cut from 11% to 5%, a significant achievement for a country with a history of soaring emigration and high unemployment. The Taoiseach will remember the difficulties experienced in 1987 when he was Minister for Labour, with high emigration and unemployment.

Our prosperity is a direct result of the diligence and commitment shown by Deputy Ahern as Taoiseach and leader of the Government. He planned and implemented an economic, social and political course for this country during the past 11 years. It is the Taoiseach's political judgment, determination and conciliatory manner that enabled him and his Government to shape the Ireland we live in today and to use our membership of the European Union to assist the transformation of our economy. History will rightly remember the Taoiseach for the way in which he has led the State's economic transformation, for his achievements during Ireland's successful EU presidency in 2004, for the outreach of the Government to the Irish community in Britain and beyond and, above all, for the skills and tenacity with which he has driven forward the peace process.

Whether in the United States of America, China, India — where he so successfully led the trade mission as part of which I had the honour and privilege of representing this House — Brussels, Northern Ireland, the Houses of the Oireachtas or anywhere in the State, it has been our privilege and pleasure to observe the unrivalled standards of statesmanship and political skill that have made the Taoiseach one of the most highly respected statesmen in the world. It has been a pleasure and honour to work with him. On my behalf, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party in this House and on behalf of my colleagues on all sides of the House, I wish him a long life, happiness and success. It is a privilege to have served under his inspired leadership. Go raibh maith agat, a Thaoisigh.