In these times of dodgy cheques and brown envelopes, TDs, dead and alive, are to have their signatures displayed in an accessible place. The OPW is to create an art feature incorporating the signatures of all deputies since the first Dail, taken from the register they sign when they take their seats. It will be displayed in the lobby of the new Oireachtas building, and the material is yet to be decided - glass, screen-print or stone.
Originally scheduled for unveiling in March, a problem has arisen: many of the signatures cannot be found. The registers for the 1918 and 1921 Dails are not with the others in Leinster House. In 1922, only 84 of the 128 elected TDs signed the book, and there are similar gaps up to 1937, as anti-Treaty members refused to take the oath and sign. There were also later abstentionists.
Currently researchers from Martin Cullen's OPW are trying to track down the missing signatures and will decide if those still unattainable will be marked by a printed name. Senators are not included, and only members up to the year 2000 will feature. No doubt, Cullen hopes it will all be in place before the next general election or new members might feel slighted by their exclusion from this work of art.