Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Deane. One of the things that struck me while people talked about the evolving changes and powers that have been introduced by Departments in the creation of agencies with political representation is what was put in previous programmes for Government in respect of regulatory impact assessments. It might be an idea for the next programme for Government to include a democratic impact assessment whereby if we bring in a particular reform, what the impact will be on public oversight in terms of a lot of the bodies that are being created or the changes that are happening. Let us remember that local authority representatives put their names on the ballot paper every five years, and members of the Dáil and the Seanad do the same at least every five years if not more. As many have pointed out, if there is no public representation in respect of oversight, who is there to be the eyes and ears of the public? Hence, people believe that they are not being represented or listened to because at least by having public representatives people can talk to them whereas often times, when trying to engage with agencies, one does not know whom to contact and if one does then that person may not reply. I call Senator Victor Boyhan.