The praise came in a letter to O'Donoghue from the director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, who also told the Kerry South TD that the arts community "will never forget what you have given us over the past five years".

O'Donoghue, who recently lost his position in the cabinet when the Taoiseach instead offered him the job of ceann comhairle, had been Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism since 2002. While his appointment initially drew a somewhat sniffy response from the arts community, reaction to him quickly warmed after O'Donoghue presided over serious increases in arts funding.

In the letter, written just after the general election and before the new cabinet was formed, O'Conor expressed confidence that O'Donoghue "will be offered whatever post you wish", stating that "it would be too much to hope that you might be our minister in the next government".

O'Conor outlined how he had tried to tell O'Donoghue in person how much he admired what he had done for the arts but "you are always so modest about your achievements that I find it difficult to express my appreciation adequately. To put it simply, you are the best minister for the arts that the country has ever had."