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

I would like to think it could not happen in this country but it certainly happens in some countries, unfortunately. By having a panel system, it forces consideration coming from NGOs which is good. There are pros and cons to it. We have had an external review group report of An Bord Pleanála and it is recommending changes in that process, probably for good reason. The imperfections are understandable. As of yesterday, I made a series of new appointments to An Bord Pleanála. They are all really good people with a good spread of skillsets, none of whom I knew previously. They all have very strong CVs and have come through the process. With this new regulator's office, I would like to see a very competitive, open invitation. I am happy to trust the public appointments system to go after the skillsets that are needed and to make recommendations to me. If they are not good enough, we will send the list back to the Public Appointments Service and tell it to come back with a new list. We do not have to accept those recommendations. It is probably a good way of making appointments particularly for a regulator that does not have a policy role. Its role is really about enforcing existing policy. It requires a certain skillset which a competitive process is probably a good way of addressing.