Yes. I pay tribute to the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan. I will not go into detail about his decision to resign. That is being well orchestrated. I know him quite well, having met him at many events. He made an outstanding contribution to law and order in this State and that should not be diminished by the events of the past week or two. He fought the "General", Mr. Martin Cahill. He fought organised crime. He was involved in the Criminal Assets Bureau. He was a courageous individual and I want to place on record my admiration for him and wish him well in his early retirement from An Garda Síochána. He has left an outstanding record of 42 years of service to the State as a courageous garda and Commissioner. I regret very much the events that led to his unnecessary resignation. I do not think he would have resigned, if he knew then what he knows now.

The Senator is ever helpful.

I, too, welcome the appointment of Mr. Justice Nial Fennelly to chair the commission of investigation. I say genuinely to my good friends opposite that it would be important that they exercise more caution and less haste. We all have a duty to be properly informed. Mr. Justice Cooke will report in due course, as will Mr. Guerin, SC. There will be a debate this evening in the other House during which further information may come to light. If we held our whisht a while that might serve well.

It is welcome that the special liquidators of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation have managed to dispose of €19.8 billion of the loan book out of a total of €21.7 billion. That is good news for the taxpayer because it means the National Asset Management Agency will take on very little and I hope it will be successful, too.

I thank Senator Terry Leyden for his compliments on my work on RTE. He is right, I do find a great spirit among people around the country. Sometimes it is above and away from politics because that is how it survives. Sometimes we speak in jam jars around here. I wonder would he have been so effusive had it not been in his own area of Castlerea in County Roscommon. Had it been in north Mayo he might not have been as complimentary.

Unlikely.

I think equally-----

I have complimented the Senator before.

The Senator has already contributed to the Order of Business.

I thank Senator Terry Leyden. That is where the compliments end.

I thought it very sad to be sitting in my room listening to Fianna Fáil Members trying to take on, and get rid of, the most reforming and excellent Minister for the wrong reasons. It is one thing to try to take somebody out but another to do it for the wrong reasons. It was equally pathetic to listen to Sinn Féin this morning blame the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, for the resignation of Ms Angela Kerins and Mr. Frank Flannery. He had absolutely nothing to do with their resignations. I take on board their compliments to the ex-Commissioner-----

The Senator is misconstruing the comments.

They are correct. He was an excellent Commissioner and he decided to retire for family reasons. Either he did that or he did not, but we are sitting around here in Parliament effectively calling him a liar by saying there was some other reason. That is the reason he gave us and the people and that is the reason we are to accept.

The Government wanted his head - that is why.

The Senator should stick to the radio programme.

It is my opinion-----

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

We are all forgetting that An Garda Síochána did this to itself. Some of its members did this to themselves. I have had the pleasure of meeting the greatest gardaí all over the country.

Will the Senator, please, finish on this issue?

The Minister did not do this to them. Some of them did this to themselves and to the State. Targeting the Minister for the wrong reasons is puerile and infantile and extremely weak on the part of the Fianna Fáil Senators. They should come up with a better reason, find the right target and get out their bows and arrows. Lear on the heath will not do it. Perhaps they should start blaming the Minister for climate change. Why not try that during the week?

That was the previous Government. We all know that. Who will the Senator nominate today?

I told the Cathaoirleach that Lear on the heath would not do it.

Well done. The Senator will get a second term out of that.

Blah, blah, blah.