Ms Attracta U? Bhroin:

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Lawlor on the obligation of the Minister. It is express in section 108(3) that, where a vacancy occurs, the Minister is obliged to fill that "as soon as may be". If somebody comes off the board from a panel, there is a requirement to fill that vacancy. I absolutely agree with Mr. Lawlor that there are issues in the panel system, particularly if a Minister chooses not to appoint the person from the names being proposed by a panel. There are significant issues in respect of what happens then under the current section 106. That is quite unsatisfactory. I would return to my earlier point about improving the panel system rather than moving to this committee because, ultimately, the panel system is leaving it to organisations. There is the degree of transparency and accountability within those organisations. If someone is appointed to a committee, it remains to be seen from the operations of the committee how transparent the dealings of that committee will be and the accountability back to those bodies. That is the material difference in respect of the panel system and the committee system.