We need an honours system - The dead can’t hear our praise

The recognition of the contribution Albert Reynolds made to the peace and stability we enjoy today has been widely recognised since his death.

His role has be acknowledged as pivotal , probably decisive in the peace process. How much better it would have been had that achievement, probably the Irish political high-water mark since the Second World War, been formally recognised during his lifetime.

So too with Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, whose first anniversary falls next Saturday. Though showered with honorary degrees in many countries, the Irish State did not, because it has not got the mechanism to do so, honour him in a way that reflects his inestimable contribution to enriching the culture of the English-speaking world. It is difficult to understand why we do not have an honours system. Is it that we are begrudgers who resent success and prefer to scoff at high achievers? Hardly. Is it that we don’t trust ourselves not to make inappropriate awards? Possibly. Are we so frightened of exceptional people? Maybe. Are these good enough reasons not recognise greatness? No.

There were, in the eight decades of Albert Reynolds’s life, hardly 10 people who deserved to be honoured at this level and if such an award is an exception rather than an expectation, then it would be justified. Not only would it honour those who achieve exceptional things, but the process would build this country’s self-esteem and self-respect.