A petition to get the face of UFC champion Conor McGregor minted on a €1 coin has been knocked out.

At a meeting on Wednesday an Oireachtas committee said the public petition was inadmissible, as they had not been able to contact the man behind it.

However, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions said it was glad Patrick O’Leary had raised awareness of its work.

Committee chairman Pádraig MacLochlainn of Sinn Féin said that because the petitioner could not be contacted his idea had to be thrown out.

“Whatever the public may think of the merits of this petition I welcome the fact that it has drawn attention to our work,” he said.

Committee member Richard Boyd Barrett described McGregor as a phenomenon.

“We have no choice. There was a slight jokey element to the petition, the actual wording, so we can’t take it any further.

“There’s huge public interest in the suggestion because there’s a slightly more serious issue at stake, which is, how do we and should we pay tribute or commemorate or honour people in this country who have excelled,” he said.

McGregor’s support

McGregor supported the petition on social media, tweeting: “It would be a true honour for me to be immortalised on the €1 coin!”

Labour Senator Susan O’Keeffe said it was unfortunate the committee could not locate Mr O’Leary.

“But it does show in this committee we are able and capable and willing to respond to all matters,” she said.

The committee has received 159 petitions in five years, of which 44 have been deemed inadmissible.

Other items agreed at the meeting included asking the Joint Committee on Health and Children for a report on the risks of holding electronic records of patients.

The committee will also write to Dublin City Council, the National Transport Authority, the Railway Procurement Agency and Luas operator Transdev for information on plans for better cycle lanes in the capital.

A third petition, which had 20,000 signatures, called for equal school access for children regardless of religion.

PA