{"id":192044,"date":"2025-11-21T05:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T05:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/192044\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T05:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T05:42:11","slug":"paschal-donohoe-uses-final-dail-speech-to-appeal-for-continued-support-for-libraries-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/192044\/","title":{"rendered":"Paschal Donohoe uses final D\u00e1il speech to appeal for continued support for libraries \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paschal Donohoe<\/a> has resigned in the D\u00e1il<\/a> as a Fine Gael TD and used in his final speech to appeal to T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> to look after libraries as a public service. <\/p>\n

The former minister for finance, who is taking up a job<\/a> at the World Bank<\/a> in Washington DC, said libraries \u201care cradles of decency\u201d and \u201cbeacons of light in a world in which things are changing so much\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we should be proud that we are in a country that values them, that invests in them, that recognises the value of reading, recognises the value of a place that offers us solitude and community at the same time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"PaschalPaschal Donohoe has resigned as a TD and will take up a position with the World Bank next week. Photograph: Damien Eagers\/PA <\/p>\n

Mr Donohoe said he was \u201ccertain\u201d that the progress \u201cmade in recent years in our economy, which I believe is real\u201d would \u201conly be built on and further improved\u201d by his successor in the Department of Finance, Mr Harris. <\/p>\n

He called on the T\u00e1naiste to \u201ckeep one public service in particular in mind \u2013 our libraries”. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the investment that we have made through or local authorities in recent years, in the funding of and the opening of new libraries,\u201d the outgoing Dublin Central TD said.<\/p>\n

Mr Donohoe said he had \u201casked the T\u00e1naiste if he would just reaffirm the support of the Government to continuing this investment\u201d and to continue to \u201cprioritise this vital public service upon which so much depends\u201d.<\/p>\n

He offered his thanks to his constituents for supporting him since he was first elected in 2011, the staff of the Department of Finance, the Budget Oversight Committee and the D\u00e1il, who \u201cmake it a parliament that we are proud to serve in\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What is Paschal Donohoe\u2019s new \u20ac410,000-a-year job at the World Bank?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said it had been \u201ca complex and tough week\u201d for his staff, who he thanked for \u201call they have done for me to allow me to do the work that I\u2019ve been trusted and privileged to do\u201d. <\/p>\n

He thanked Leas-Cheann Comhairle John McGuinness for being \u201crelentless\u201d but always fair and he wished all TDs \u201chappiness, health, and success\u201d as they represent their constituents.<\/p>\n

There was sustained applause from across the House as Mr Donohoe sat down.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said, to laughter, that he \u201cnever quite thought that there would be a day when Paschal would ask me to spend more money\u201d. <\/p>\n

He told Mr Donohoe it was \u201c so fitting on your last day that you\u2019re talking to us about borrowing, but now about borrowing books instead of borrowing money\u201d.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste noted that during his various ministries Mr Donohoe had supported library projects \u201cwhether that\u2019s in Kinsale, Virginia, Macroom, Trim, Castleblaney, Thomastown\u201d.<\/p>\n

He reminded the outgoing TD that it had been 5,364 days since he made his maiden speech. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat day you talked about diversity, you talked about stability, you talked about addressing the banking crisis and creating jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The five crunch issues facing Simon Harris as Minister for FinanceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the subsequent days, before you ever became a minister, you contributed frequently, thoughtfully, philosophically and with immense knowledge and understanding. You\u2019ve stayed entirely true to your values over those thousands of days.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Harris quoted one of Mr Donohoe\u2019s favourite authors, Timothy Snyder, and a book the former minister had given to him about being a patriot.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019A patriot wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained\u2019,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it well, and wishing that it would do better.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

He told Mr Donohoe: \u201cPaschal, you have been nothing if not a true patriot.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paschal Donohoe has resigned in the D\u00e1il as a Fine Gael TD and used in his final speech…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,4767,22779,106968,18,13,14,553,6,19,17,106969,11,12,15,16,5,46,44,7,8,13180],"class_list":["post-192044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dail-eireann","tag-department-of-finance","tag-dublin-central-constituency","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fine-gael","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-mcguinness","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-paschal-donohoe","tag-simon-harris","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115586095325422617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}