Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Good afternoon to our distinguished guests, most of whom I have had the privilege of meeting and engaging with before. It has been very interesting to listen to them talk about gender equality. Councillor Hoade is the first female president of the AILG. That should be noted and remarked on, and I congratulate her on the difficult year the AILG is having because of Covid. Councillor Hoade is certainly leading with great strides, which is great to see.

Much of the debate and discussion we have had has been about balance, specifically the balance between autonomy and accountability. In my view, the best way of doing this is through public representation.

The submission from the Association of Irish Local Government has certainly demonstrated the strong contribution elected members have made to governing bodies over the years since 1908. Anyone would know Liam Kenny was a historian in terms of the links that he has made. It is interesting to see the links between the foundation of our universities and local government, which was only in place ten years at that point. That link is important in representing the public interest and not only the diversity of experience but the experience of diversity. It is important in bringing that all to the fore.

I was fortunate enough to serve on the European Committee of the Regions for five years some ten years ago. One thing that struck me across Europe was the strong relationship between universities and the regions and their business and political leadership. My view was this was something we were not strong enough on. Within my county we have NUI Maynooth. In the past five years there have been stronger and better connections but to have had the possibility of a public representative from Kildare on the governing body would have been a wonderful thing for the region and for the university. I know that Sara Moorhead spoke in her report about that absolute connection.

I will put some questions to Councillor Hoade. Time is short so I will confine my questions to her. This is key because there is a suggestion that boards might minimise the numbers. There is a fear that we may lose some of the valuable expertise and insights of our public representatives.

In her submission Councillor Hoade talked about bringing the experience of the wider education sector to the governing bodies. Will Councillor Hoade develop that point about those connections? There is a view regarding the competency-based approach to the selection of members, and that is not a bad thing. I have no doubt about the competencies that councillors can bring. Can Councillor Hoade elaborate on that? They are the two questions that I am putting initially.