Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Can I ask you, you were responsible as Minister of Finance for appointing the majority of the board members to the central board and Financial Services Authority of Ireland board and the board of IFSRA. Can I ask you, how did you come about ... how did you decide on who to appoint to the board? And it seems, you know, your appointments to the board of the Financial Regulator included, besides others, a senior counsel, a former member of the Independent Radio and TV Commission, a journalist, a former CEO of the beef trading company and chairperson of the IDA - who was also former director general of the Irish Business Employers Confederation, IBEC, the former chairman of a large estate agency. And Brian Patterson, the former chairperson of the Financial Regulator, told this inquiry that he made you aware of his lack of experience in financial regulation at the time of his appointment. So, can I ask you, how did you come to deciding who to appoint and what were your reasons to appoint persons with very limited regulatory or banking experience to the board of the Financial Regulator?