Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is self explanatory that the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that we have a board composed of professional, competent personnel who have experience of the legal environment pertaining to children and families, the disciplines of child protection, psychology, family support and therapeutic services. We wish to ensure that in filling the board any Minister does so with the best qualified board members. We do not wish to have a situation, which was previous practice, including by Ministers who were members of my party, that boards were filled as a reward to political cronies. We wish to be sure that the best people are chosen to be on the board. I support the amendment in order to ensure that we have professional, competent and experienced members of the board from the relevant fields.

It is worth giving ensuring that this is clearly outlined and explicitly laid out in the legislation.