Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

My comment is in the same vein. While I welcome the appointment of Mr. Meaney and I am sure he is most suited and capable to do the job at hand, it was an appointment that was overdue in the sense that the previous Government did not pursue an appointment to the chair of that board, as the Taoiseach well knows. The Government has made this appointment. Yesterday we were enamoured to hear the process that was to be engaged by the Government in regard to appointments such as this one. Like Deputy Adams, while I believe the appointee is quite suitable and capable and I am sure he will do a good job in the difficult role the board has in providing a service in that industry, if the committee is not of the same view as myself or the Taoiseach about Mr. Meaney's appointment, what teeth has it and what sort of a hoodwinking exercise is it to be in the future, if in its first day it is proved to be so?

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