Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The key issue is independence of the board. In order to operate well, function well, be able to sometimes give a different view and, if necessary, call an issue out, boards need to have a degree of independence as well as expertise. Amendment No. 129 is a marginal improvement on what is contained in the Bill whereby it is stated that several of the members of the board would be officers of Departments, etc. Effectively, this amendment leaves us with a board including the chair, who, of course, could potentially be a Department official, two officers of Departments and one person from the CCMA. I mean no disrespect to the CCMA, which has huge expertise, but it will not rock the boat either. Officers of Departments will not rock the boat. If necessary, they are constrained. Then it is up to six, if any. We do know that there will be six. We do not know, of that six, four or however many are appointed, if there will be independent. If there is to be expertise, they could be officers and officials from Departments as well. The entire board could, with the exception of the CCMA representative, be made up of officials from Departments. That will not provide the balance and independence that is needed.

I accept that those involved will bring with them a level of expertise but there will be expertise and skills missing from the board on that basis. Given that the original composition of the board that was suggested was specifying that several of the members of the board would be coming from Departments and agencies, it is not unreasonable to think that a good many of the additional six will come via that route also.

That is the key here. I agree with the comments of the other Deputies on having experts from fishing communities. You cannot get more expertise than you will get from fishing communities, marine biodiversity experts and environmental experts. This expertise is key. I am not hung up on the wording but it is a question of having the principles included. If setting up bodies in other areas, we would not dream of not having experts and key stakeholders represented. Coastal local authorities are stakeholders, as reflected in the requirement to have a CCMA representative. This is positive but the CCMA is but one of several stakeholders. The CCMA representative is the only member outside the Departments whose expertise will definitely be reflected on the board. My concern is about the independence of the board.