Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two related points. On 8 April, a young man in his 40s dived into the River Liffey to save another. That was a fella called Jimmy Nicholl. He was a homeless man who had suffered drug addiction. He was a wonderful character. I knew him well. I met him nearly every week and we chatted on the streets. You had to understand what he had come through in the past couple of years to know what kind of person he was.

The second point I want to make is to recognise the wonderful public sector broadcasting Joe Duffy does. We all give out about Joe Duffy on occasion or compliment him when he does something really good. His programme yesterday and the day before reflected on Jimmy’s life and the difficulties he faced. He had been interviewed by an RTÉ journalist at some point and Joe played that with great compassion and recognition. He talked about how we should have some honours system in this country to recognise people who have made great sacrifice, particularly those who sacrifice their life. What happened here has kind of gone unnoticed. This man was homeless, in his 40s and had been battling drug addiction. I think he was clean at the time. The last time I met him he told me he was there or almost there. Maybe he was on a support programme. He saw somebody else in the river and dived in to save him. Both of them sadly perished. If that was any member of the public, of our Defence Forces or a guard, there would rightly be more about it. That is not to cast aspersions there, but it would be right and fitting to find a way to recognise what some people achieve in life. In the interview he did with somebody walking around with a microphone, he took responsibility. He never blamed the Government. Any time I met him, he might have seen me on television the night before on heard me on radio and would compliment me or say I had had a rough one and had not been great or whatever. He was tuned into what was going on. He had such a positive outlook on life and wanted to help others. We should find a way to recognise people like that.