Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Politics is an honourable profession. We are all decent people. I have met very few people in politics who I do not like or admire. They are all doing a hard, thankless job. People think we are well-paid and so on but they do not look at the work rate that is involved. Why are we, as politicians, attacking each other on small personal issues which, though important in their own way, are relatively trivial in the overall scheme of things? I encourage Members, for the remainder of the by-elections and going into the next general election, to get on with the business of real politics and to stop going back to such mudslinging. Are we picking up the American example? No one knows what is news, fake news or bad news. I am not a holier than thou fellow. I have played a few good tricks and pulled a few good strokes in my time. There is no denying that and I would not be here if I did not.