Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour group I join with others in paying tribute to Jody Blake. We all wish her a very happy early retirement; I stress early as otherwise she would have had to be ten when starting. She served 23 years in the Seanad, as the Leader has said, which is a long sentence by any stretch and she definitely deserves to have a very happy life outside of here. We will all miss her very much. When I was first elected seven years ago, I recall the welcome she gave me and I came to depend on her kind words of advice and support and, indeed, those of Ms Deirdre Lane also. She brought always a great deal of professionalism and competence and a very high standard of skill and ability to her role, a sense of humour, a flair and, of course, an inimitable dress style which I will greatly miss. On behalf of the Labour group I wish her the very best and want to say how much we will miss her in her early retirement.