asked the Minister for Labour if he will make a statement on the arrangements made for the operation of an award scheme to be knows as Gaisce, The President's Award.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - President's Award Scheme.
4.
On 2 July 1982 the Government approved a proposal of the Minister for Education that a national award scheme for young people entitled "Gaisce, The President's Award" be established.
The Taoiseach, on 31 May 1983 invited Dr. A.J.F. O'Reilly to act as Chairman of Gaisce, The President's Award. This invitation was duly accepted. An ad hoc management committee was established to progress development of Gaisce, The President's Award, and to launch it in pilot areas. This committee is preparatory to the establishment by the Government to a fully fledged award authority. It is envisaged that the full award authority would be fully representative of youth serving interests, the business community, trade unions and other resource specialists, as well as being geographically representative.
Would the Minister of State agree that, unfortunately, this scheme has got off to a very bad start and that in particular the manner in which it was launched at Áras an Uachtaráin was entirely an inappropriate event? Would he agree with me at this stage that the only sensible, rational thing to do is to ask the existing ad hoc committee, as he described it, and in particular the chairman, to resign so that he may make a totally new start with the scheme?
I do not accept that it has got off to a bad start. This scheme has had quite a lengthy gestation period. It has been considered, planned and worked for going back to the early stage of the decade and perhaps even before that. It is now up and running and the response from the pilot areas is highly encouraging. The House will recall that there was a degree of controversy surrounding the launch. I regret that controversy which I do not think was helpful to the success of the scheme. I think that when he comes to reflect on it the Leader of the Opposition may feel that perhaps his intervention was not the most helpful. In any event, I have no desire to go back over controversies at this stage. The Taoiseach in the Dáil on that occasion indicated that when it comes to appointing a permanent authority the Leader of the Opposition will be consulted in full and I understand that that offer has been communicated to him formally in writing.
Will the Minister of State not accept that there was widespread public concern at the unseemly behaviour of the present chairman of this ad hoc committee on the occasion of the launching of the scheme and that it is a fact that, if the scheme is to achieve what we would all like it to achieve, it must be launched and implemented in a manner which is totally removed from and above party politics? Will the Minister of State not agree that, with the membership of the committee, it has no possibility of being regarded as non-partisan? I should like to put my suggestion to the Minister of State again, that he owes it to the scheme and to the young people it is intended to serve, to make a totally new beginning and ask those who have totally bungled the scheme up to now to leave the scene and enable him, or the Taoiseach, to appoint a completely new committee which will be above reproach and, particularly, above politics?
I am very appreciative of the commitment made by those who have been involved to date. Their success in getting the scheme up and running before the end of this important year is a remarkable one given the degree of delay that has bedevilled the scheme to date. I am particularly appreciative of the performance of the chairman to date. In selecting a suitable person to act, great care and thought were given to the matter and Dr. O'Reilly seemed pre-eminently suitable for that position, in particular given his connection with Irish-American associations.
The Deputy opposite will be aware of the fact that it has always been expected that support and assistance would be coming from the Congressional Awards Scheme in the United States and that his Minister of State, Deputy Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, and I have attempted to strengthen and build on those links. Dr. O'Reilly's association with that scheme makes him pre-eminently suitable for appointment. In addition, his status in the business community, as an international sportsman and so on, singled him out for selection but, while I have indicated that we are deeply appreciative of the support and involvement of those who have served that awards scheme so well to date, I would like to repeat that what is in existence now is an ad hoc committee. It is intended that there will be a permanent awards scheme and, as the Taoiseach said more than once, we are prepared to discuss the details of that committee and its composition with the Opposition.
I should like to know if the Minister's congratulations to the chairman indicate that he condones the sending of the invitations in the name of the Taoiseach from an office that was hard to locate in town, were not in the name of the President and could only be responded to by ringing the telephone number of an office in town? Is the Minister of State condoning that action in the name of the President?
We have been through all of this before and I do not think it is helpful for those who are seeking to establish an awards scheme, who are seeking the support of the private sector and do not seek anything other than to have in existence an awards scheme that would benefit young people here, if we retrace our tracks over this controversy. On the occasions of an Adjournment debate the Taoiseach explained in great detail the circumstances relating to the issuing of the invitations. In particular, he explained that the group organising the awards ceremony when they approached the secretariat in Áras an Uachtaráin were informed that it was in that fashion that the invitations should issue.