John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Out of respect for the Chair and the time constraints, I will park an issue I intended to raise and take this opportunity to commend and congratulate Jimmy Walsh. I have known him for many years and I count him as a colleague. As a journalist for 30 years, I am only in the penny ha'penny place compared to Jimmy, who has 52 years on the clock. One would not think that to look at him or meet him or when one sees his sharpness of intellect, his level of energy and his commitment and compassion in the job he holds. One does not see that in many jobs. I do not think Jimmy will mind me saying that he is probably old school. I say that in the best sense of those words. I have always looked up to him and the standards of fairness, honesty and accuracy he upheld. While we know that Jimmy is a highly opinionated and, perhaps, sometimes argumentative man, there was never an occasion when he worked with the Irish Press or The Irish Times that it filtered into his copy or was reflected in any type of bias or spin. However, one learns something new every day in this Seanad and I am a little taken aback to learn that he has been acting behind my back as a type of spin doctor to some of the Taoiseach's nominees. That is a revelation that I will take up with him at a later stage.

Jimmy is also unique and peculiar, perhaps in society but especially as a journalist, in not having a mobile telephone. However, he manages to survive in the jungle that modern journalism has become and still has not missed a deadline or a story of any note.