Taoiseach pays tribute to Noel Dempsey

I want to extend my best wishes to Noel Dempsey today. He has had a fantastic career and he has been a hard working and effective Minister in the portfolios that he has held.

Noel has devoted a huge proportion of his adult life to serving the Fianna Fáil Party, his constituents in Meath and the wider Irish public. He has made a huge contribution to Irish politics and he has been a reforming minister who has never allowed vested interests or tough decisions get in the way of doing the right thing.

As a politician, Noel Dempsey has a great grasp for detail and an extraordinarily wide breadth of policy expertise. These skills were utilised by Fianna Fáil in successive Programme for Government negotiations where Noel would come into his own.

At the cabinet table, he was a straight-talking, respected colleague, forceful in his contribution and a loyal supporter of Government decisions. His achievements as a Minister are many.

As Minister for the Environment, he reformed local government and introduced the very successful plastic bag levy. As Minister for Education and Science, he was a passionate advocate for equality in our schools and colleges. He did immense work to ensure greater access to third-level for special needs students and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel introduced competition in the energy market which has brought down the overall cost of electricity and gas in Ireland in recent times. As Minister for Transport, he has brought forward significant legislation and initiatives which have reduced the number of road deaths in Ireland thus saving many lives.

On a personal level, I want to say that Noel Dempsey and I have been good friends and close colleagues for almost a quarter of a century.

He was first elected to the Dáil in 1987. We both subsequently received our first government appointments from Albert Reynolds. We also served together as Ministers in each of the Governments led by Bertie Ahern. It was my privilege, in May 2008, as Taoiseach to appoint Noel as Minister for Transport and to be able to call upon the skills of such a loyal and capable colleague.

His work for the Fianna Fáil Party under successive leaders has been deeply appreciated by all. The Fianna Fáil organisation in Meath has been a model for others to emulate and Noel and his colleagues there have played a huge part in that electoral success. He has always had excellent organisation skills. He is Honorary Treasurer of Fianna Fáil and his probity and integrity are unquestioned.

Noel Dempsey is a man of great sincerity and decency. I value his friendship immensely. It has been a pleasure to work with him down through the years.

I respect the decision of Noel Dempsey not to seek a nomination to run in the next General Election following his 33 years as a public representative.

Noel has been a stalwart of the Fianna Fáil Party for over half his life. He is a very active and dedicated Party man who is always quick to step up and get the job done no matter what. I know he will continue to remain active in the Party.

As Taoiseach and as Leader of Fianna Fáil, I want to say a sincere thanks to Noel Dempsey for his hard work and commitment to politics over the years.

I wish Noel, his wife Bernadette and their family well in the future.