With regard to the point raised by Deputy Doyle, I left it completely in the discretion of the council. I think it was Deputy O'Sullivan who was Lord Mayor at the time, and they were very keen on getting the Minister out of this matter altogether and on leaving the council free to make the awards—apart, of course, from the monetary awards in which the Government would have to have some say. They felt that what was a major act of bravery or a minor act was a matter to be settled by them. I expressed my personal view when speaking on the Estimate. I did not like the idea, on the few occasions on which I had to present medals, of having to give any man a bronze medal, when another man was coming up for a gold medal, but I imagine that is what they intend to do. I have left them free to make their own decisions and I think that was the wisest thing to do. They probably would not act, if they were to be told by any Minister what they were to do.
The matter of the Council of State was discussed on the Estimate, and Deputy Dillon thought, as Deputy Mulcahy now seems to think, that this would be a proper activity for that body. The reply I made them is the same as the reply I make now. The Council of State was set up for a particular purpose under the Constitution, and to ask them to do this work would be asking them to do something they were never intended to do. On the other hand, the council we have here could not, I think, be more representative. The council will consist of the Ceann Comhairle for the time being, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Lord Mayor of Cork, the Chairman of the General Council of County Councils, and of the Irish Red Cross Society, and the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána.
I do not think it would be possible to get a more representative council, and, if I had thought that any council we might propose would wish to be put on a statutory basis, I would have waited until I had the Bill before bringing in the Estimate. It was only at the unanimous request of the council that I brought the Bill in. I feel rather like Deputy Mulcahy about deeds of bravery. I do not like this kind of thing myself, but the majority of people do. They like to hand these trophies down to their descendants, and there is no reason, when people feel that way about it, that they should not have them and why we should not have an Irish decoration, as well as an English decoration. Let them get both, if they wish.