David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 14, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:"(8) For the purposes of this Act only, members of the Board are not employees under section 8 and section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003.".

This relates to the use of that section by board members of semi-State bodies to attain contracts of indefinite duration. As the Minister of State is aware, many of the appointments are seen as political appointments. Even if they are not, they are seen as short-term appointments, with a maximum duration of three years sometimes. We have to avoid those appointments going beyond their remit of three years. We have seen instances of people being left on boards for seven years. If they can obtain contracts of indefinite duration that might be problematic and go against the intent of their appointment and the circumstances in which they were appointed in the first place.

Our amendment is sensible, apart from exceptional circumstances, to make sure it is clear that when people are appointed to these positions, only for the purposes of this Act, the members of the board would not be employees under sections 8 and 9 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003.