asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will issue a special stamp to commemorate the anniversary of Archbishop McHale.

Work on the 1981 programme of special stamps, which is a very full one, is well advanced and it would not be practicable to include a further subject at this stage.

Was there a previous question on this subject some time ago and can the Minister give me the answer given at that time?

I am afraid I have not got that information. I was not in a position in this House to hear what it was.

It was refused by the Michelin man over there.

Understanding that it is not possible to do anything in 1981, will the Minister keep in mind the possibility of some other appropriate date in the near future being used to issue a stamp?

In view of the fact that these stamps are issued to mark the centenary of a death which occurred in 1881, I doubt that it would be possible to find another appropriate date.

Perhaps the Minister could consider some fertile and imaginative approach which would involve some other date rather than the actual date of the centenary of the death. There might be a birthday or a consecration date, or something like that. Some other date in the lifetime of the Archbishop might present itself for which this might be considered.

If such an appropriate date were to present itself, the matter would be considered. Quite frankly, I cannot see how any appropriate date could arise at this stage. The tradition is to commemorate the centenary, and it occurs this year.

Will the Minister agree that it is not always necessarily the centenary which is commemorated? Events in the life of the person can be commemorated.

Would the Minister consider it appropriate that Archbishop McHale should be remembered and honoured in this way, bearing in mind that he was such a great champion of the down-trodden people of the west of Ireland in the last century.

That lion of the west.

Was it not found possible to produce a stamp at short notice on the occasion of the visit of Pope John Paul II? In view of that experience and the ability then demonstrated by the Department to produce a stamp at short notice, would the Minister not consider it appropriate that this stamp should still be produced at this stage?

It is not possible at this stage to intervene in the programme which, I might mention for the Deputy's information, was arranged in 1979. The Deputy was in a position then to influence the programme of stamps for 1981.

Surely the Minister must be aware that as a result of a question I asked earlier this year the patriots who are now talking refused to issue a stamp in memory of the man in question.

It is his view that in 1979 Members on this side of the House would have been in a position to influence decisions but that in 1981, when he finds himself in that position, we are no longer able to influence decisions with regard to stamps? The Minister had indicated that the Deputy was in a position to influence decisions in 1979 and by implication has inferred that any suggestions coming from this side of the House now regarding stamps would not be heeded.

What I said was that the stamp programme for this year was decided on in 1979 because the interim would be the least time that such a programme would require.

Would the Minister agree that where there is a will there is a way?

Why did the Deputy not ask that question 12 months ago?

When the Deputy was in office in 1979 he could have influenced the programme for this year by including a stamp to commemorate Archbishop McHale.

May I suggest that Archbishop McHale be commemorated in the Christmas issue?

I will look into that and if it is possible I will give it favourable consideration.