Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said an Irish honours system should be created to mark the achievements of people such as golfing star Padraig Harrington and those who make extraordinary contributions to society, write Mark Hennessy& Philip Reid.
"Increasingly what we are seeing is [that] the British are now honouring Irish citizens. There's been a number of them in the last five years," Mr Ahern said yesterday at a reception he hosted in Government Buildings to mark Harrington's British Open victory.
"We should have a way, a national way, of honouring not just stars but people who make a contribution, an enormous contribution, to Irish life. The fact is we don't have that," he said.
Despite his stated public support for an honours system, Mr Ahern is not going to introduce legislation to bring one about, a spokesman for the Taoiseach said last night in response to questions from The Irish Times.
Shortly after he became Taoiseach in 1997, Mr Ahern attempted to get an all-party agreement on setting up a national honours system, but the talks broke down following a disagreement with Fine Gael and the experience has made him reluctant to repeat the attempt.
Mr Ahern said yesterday that back in 1998 he tried to get an all-party agreement on a national honours list, not just for sport but also for community leaders and people involved in the arts and business.
"Unfortunately I couldn't get an all-party agreement. But I was in favour of it then and I am still in favour of it," he told golfing correspondents on the margin of yesterday's Government reception.
Fine Gael last night said it would examine any proposals brought forward by the Taoiseach in relation to an honours system.
However, a spokesman said: "We don't have to mimic what is done in the United Kingdom. There are plenty of ways to honour people."
Acknowledging that republics do not award titles similar to the ones offered by the queen in the UK, Mr Ahern said yesterday: "France and a lot of republics have different formats for doing it."
The British government has awarded titles in recent years to Michael Smurfit, Tony O'Reilly, Bono and Bob Geldof. "We don't have an equivalent here and that's a pity. Terry Wogan got one too. There are ways [ like the French] that we can get around it and that's my point.
"The distinction is not just to make it a superstar thing - I would be in favour that you can honour exceptional people who do exceptional things, but it could either be the community or the arts," he said.
"We have a whole lot of award schemes and the only real one we have is the President's, the Gaisce awards, but that is slightly different," said Mr Ahern.