Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

It is there already, in effect, because the Minister has all of those powers currently.

When a panel is formed and a number of people are put forward, they come from all the disciplines. It is convention. There is nothing in prescribed in law that forces the Minister, for example, where an architect has just left a board, to appoint an architect from the panel of people he or she has been given from all the nominating bodies, or to appoint another ecologist and have three ecologists on a board. It is good practice and good governance to have that balance on the board. It has been convention rather than prescribed. If we are going to prescribe how we do this in legislation, and the institute does not have a difficulty in that regard - we think it is good because it avoids uncertainty - then we would agree with Ms Uí Bhroin that some of that discretion needs to be taken out to ensure that at least the word "balance" sits somewhere in the legislation.