Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this in principle, although I will echo what Senator Craughwell said, in that the Bill would require significant amendment. Positive reinforcement is the most powerful learning tool for us as a species. In Ireland, as a republic, we should be confident enough to recognise the outstanding achievements of our citizenship. One of the ways I suggest the Bill be amended is to ensure it is not the usual round of grandees and apparatchiks who are honoured in Irish society, by way of honorary doctorates and recognition. Very often, by sheer virtue of appointment to a position in Ireland, such recognition follows automatically and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.I would like to see the outliers in Irish society recognised and rewarded, including our whistleblowers who are almost universally reviled and repudiated, despite the incredible contribution they make to Irish society. I think of people like Maurice McCabe, who have done the State some considerable service but in doing so, have experienced and suffered the most hostile scrutiny and acts of reprisal and retaliation. There is an opportunity for us in this Bill, sufficiently amended, to recognise people who are carers, people who prevail despite being disabled citizens in a State that places so many cruel, idiosyncratic and capricious obstacles in their path. That is the community of awardees that I would like to see recognised and rewarded. To that end, we would have to revisit the constitution of any committee that would make those decisions. If we had whistleblowers during the intellectual and ethical failures of the Celtic tiger in banking, finance, property development and so on, and if they had been free to stand up and call out wrongdoing, then perhaps we would not owe €64 billion and would not have had to bail out banks and the international financial services sector.

My support for this Bill is predicated on the idea that we can have a robust discussion and conversation on it and introduce amendments to it. I am delighted to note that members of a technical group in this Chamber who are not ideologically aligned, do not all think the same way and do not have the same philosophical or ideological principles can have a frank exchange of views that is respectful, open and collegial. Disagreement in Irish society is a good thing. It is not a bad thing and it is the most powerful engine for arriving at the truth. That said, 100 years on from the establishment of the State, we should have the self-confidence to have a system that rewards and recognises our disrupters, our provocative citizens, people who contribute to knowledge, who challenge the status quoand who help us to progress as a republic.