Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He can come again. We are here every week. He could update us on the position regarding pay and the area of recruitment, which Senator Craughwell has also highlighted.

I wish to pay tribute to Senator Norris for over 30 years and seven months of service. It is an unbelievable service to the State. I regard him as a latter-day Oscar Wilde and it is a privilege to serve with Senator Norris here. I was here for a period between 1992 and 1993; I was here as a Minister of State from 1987 to 1989 when he was a Senator, and we served the State in many ways.

Today is also the 50th anniversary of the death of Patrick Kavanagh of Iniskeen, County Monaghan, and I wish to pay tribute to him.

I wish to comment on Trinity College, where I always expected and believed that David Norris was professor of English. What is wrong with these nitwits? Senator Bacik should have insisted, as she is now Reid Professor there. Surely of all the men in this country, a James Joyce expert, a man who has brought tourism, has defended James Joyce and has restored his houses and towers would be ideal. Yet Trinity College, this centre of enlightenment in the world, was not enlightened enough to make Senator Norris Professor of English. For God's sake, what is wrong with them? I understand Trinity has offered him an honorary doctorate. I am not sure whether he rejected it but certainly he should have. I could not believe it.