Ms Attracta U? Bhroin:

Absolutely, and it is not just within this head, it is in relation to the commencement provisions, the regulations, the removal of Oireachtas oversight and the making of orders to increase the number of board members, as well as in many other elements right across the heads. I include the preservation of "may" or "shall", which Deputy Ó Broin referred to earlier in regard to making complaints under head 7.

In respect of proposals working on the basis of these heads, much greater prescription is required in relation to the considerations in head 5 and the proposed section 106(2) around the Minister and appointments. The word "expertise" is not even included. It just refers to experience. We referred earlier to the deficiencies in terms of the list of skill sets but there are also some very odd elements in there. In terms of infrastructure delivery, the board is not a commissioning agent. Something like that does not have a place in there. There is a whole pile of things missing such as archaeology, landscape, ecological skills and all of that different type of consideration. That could be very specifically prescribed.

In head 3, the discretion to provide for another system should be expressly deleted. If we are going with a committee, it should be a committee and there should be no alternative there. In relation to the other matters I talked about earlier around drawing from the panel, the Minister should be required to ensure that he or she is obliged to maintain balance in the make-up of the board. There is great room here also to provide for accountability and transparency on decision-making in terms of regular reporting, perhaps to this committee or laying reports before the Oireachtas and facilitating debates, in particular in the context of recent experiences just to engender and provide for open, public understanding of a very proactive approach to the management of the board in the interests of the types of issues Mr. Lawlor has referred to in terms of delays and the length of time involved. An awful lot can be done here but in the interests of time, there is a lot in the recommendations.