Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 33:

In page 57, to delete line 9 and substitute the following: “10 people, from among persons in respect of whom a recommendation for the purposes of this section have been made by the Public Appointments Service, who have experience or expertise in matters”.

We have discussed this amendment previously at the committee. It has been forward strongly as a means of ensuring we will have the right mix of people on the appeals panel. We were prescriptive about who the people should be. The concern was that the Minister would simply select and appoint his or her ten members. I wanted to ensure a recommendation for the purposes of the section would be made by the Public Appointments Service in order that it would not just be the Minister who would choose the ten people he or she wanted. As part of this discussion, we talked about advocates in the disability sector and particularly used as an example ensuring there would be housing stock available for people with disabilities and that they would be represented in that regard. I am sure it is probably the intention to do so, but we felt it would be better to be more prescriptive in that regard. Hence the amendments have been tabled. I am interested in hearing the Minister's thoughts on them.