Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuireann sé an-áthas orm aontú leis an mBille seo agus molaim go hard an Seanadóir Feargal Quinn. Tá sé thar a bheith soiléir go bhfuil machnamh domhain déanta aige air. Mar duine a bhfuil clú agus cáil air cheana féin, tuigeann sé go maith díreach cad tá i gceist anseo. Tá seans againn anois sa tSeanad agus ceapaim-se gur chóir an díospóireacht a bheith anseo againn sa tSeanad. Ní fhéadfainn díospóireacht mar seo a shamhlú agus í ar siúl i nDáil Éireann.

With all due respect to Dáil Éireann, I just could not imagine this type of discussion in that House because it would be overtaken by cynicism and partisanship. That is the reason the Seanad is the place where this matter should be discussed. Tá seanfhocal ann: You are never regarded as a prophet in your own land. That is one of the reasons this should be given careful consideration. It is very interesting the number of Irish citizens who have received Nobel peace prizes, for instance. People of Irish extraction appear on the Queen’s list. One of the reasons for that is precisely because we do not have the type of award which is being recommended in this Bill. It is also clear from the amount of detail in the Bill that Senator Quinn foresees what the negative reactions might be. He has covered all of them particularly well. There could be no question of letting this slip into a political mode.

Senators Eamonn Coghlan and Sean Barrett correctly outlined all the other awards that exist in the country. That is why this award must be different. It cannot be similar to a person of the year award or anything of that nature. Like Senator Eamonn Coghlan, I too received the Dublin Lord Mayor’s civic honour award, as did Gay Byrne, Jackie Charlton and others. I felt a particular pride on the night precisely because it was happening in this country but even that in itself is a regional-type of award, although we all welcomed it and saw it as some form of imprimatur or acknowledgement of the work we were doing. Small though it is, I cannot think of any country in the world that is more suited to the type of award that is being proposed. When one looks at our place in the world, whether in sport, literature, good works of charity or in education, we are among the top and we certainly punch above our weight. There is no question about that.

An honours system is important not just for the person getting the award but because it designates role models for another generation. By doing that, the State, with all the apparatus behind it, agus an tUachtarán chomh maith, in addition to the selection committee which would act in an advisory role, would be indicating the respect we have for the service of the person who has been selected. At the end of the day, it is about service and achievement. I do not think Senator Quinn has omitted anything in the categories he has outlined.Again, that is an indication of the detail which has gone into this. I am delighted we in the Seanad have an opportunity to debate it. I have no doubt the Minister of State could name 20 people in Wexford who would be entitled to this award already because a huge body of people could be considered. How often has it been seen, when people are presented with an award that they are magnanimous and say, "I am accepting this on behalf of all those who have supported me" or, if it is a team, it is accepted on behalf of the whole team, and so on? That would be the ethos attached to an award like this.

Of course, fine tuning may be required with some of it but, graciously, the Senator has made that very point. It is the one area where we need consensus. If there is not consensus in initiating this award, then to some extent it is tarnished as it goes forward. Having examined it here and had the opportunity to make a presentation on it, and by putting it into a kind of gestation period, I have a feeling that, when it goes to Dáil Éireann, it will be debated in an entirely different way. Any of us here today could make smart remarks about what it might mean going into the future but that is not the spirit of the debate. Fianna Fáil, and I personally, fully support this Bill. I believe any Senator who comes in here, irrespective of party affiliation, will approach this in the spirit in which Senator Quinn approached it. I believe he is doing a great credit to this House by bringing it forward. While we will always have the cut and thrust of politics and different ideas on legislation, I cannot see us having any different opinion on the intrinsic element of this legislation. I hope it will be wholeheartedly accepted and embraced by the Government and that we act urgently on it. It is timely because of the commemoration of the centenary of the 1916 Rising next year.