Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I was not in any way being critical as regards replying to the letter. That is not what I meant.

In reply to Deputy Ó Caoláin, it would have to be an independent and open system. Those with an interest in this issue, including persons involved in big award schemes, say it would have to be a transparent system, as otherwise it would not work. It would have to be open to everybody, something that may be won or achieved by anybody. As such, it would be in line with a republican ethos. An Agreed Programme for Government refers to a national presidential citizen's award, as recommended in the active citizenship report. Such an award could be incorporated but it was intended to be entirely different from the State awards system. It has been noted that there is a long list of awards around the country and the report recommended that the national presidential citizen's award be co-ordinated in some way, bearing in mind the hundreds of schemes in place. It made a detailed recommendation, as drawn up by Ms Mary Davis and her colleagues earlier this year, but it is not the same.

For my part, I brought forward a detailed document the last time based on the previous discussions. I emphasise that while this is not the forum to go into detail on a proposed initiative, it would be prudent to let the outline of a scheme emerge organically from inter-party discussions and then see what would be possible. If it was considered that it would not be possible, it would be added to the list of efforts made since 1930.

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