Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In some ways this will be more of an open competition than that. I have not quite decided whether the current appointment process, for example that of An Bord Pleanála, is the right one. Different interests recommend names which go on different panels. There has to be a certain number from each panel. The problem with that is if people lobby heavily and get their names recommended through connections or contacts, there could be three people who are really good on one panel and there will be another panel that is not great. In that situation, the Minister is forced to prefer somebody from a separate panel because of the category he or she happens to come under even though he or she may not be as good as someone who the Minister is not able to accept because of those limitations. Having said that, I can see the upside of that because it requires consideration of different skillsets. We certainly do not want to have a situation where there is a Minister who is, for example, very pro-development and does not believe in climate change or something like that and so he or she dismisses-----