Ms Attracta U? Bhroin:

Just to touch on the Chairman’s comment about the board being an attractive place to be a member of; that is really key. This is one of the things we need to look at in respect of the outcome of this process. If one is concerned about the process itself and how it has happened, one is going to be concerned about being one of those people who are going to be part of a mix of possibly a compromised process. This may perhaps not involve this iteration but the next one, which may overlap. That is why it is so important for this committee as regards its input and feedback. We have an urgent need to address the board now and we need to do it in a way which is confidence-inspiring, involves the public appropriately, and does not allow for that level of ministerial discretion that is in this Act, which, as we have talked about earlier, is like Groundhog Day, and is bringing us back to pre-1976.

On the planning authority, I could not agree more with Deputy Ó Broin. It has significant implications, particularly in respect of the 2018 Act, with implications for both the Minister and the OPR. I am looking at the clock and I am aware that we do not have time to discuss this here.

On the question of a two-tier type board, I believe the Minister's action plan actually touches on this and the OPR, in respect of a panel of, effectively, planning commissioners as opposed to an executive-type board. That is in the mix. In the context of that, it is all the more important that we very much look at this because the Minister's action plan specifically refers to that governance executive board, with the chair and the deputy chair being chosen by the Minister. We have issues in respect of the current nomination process for the board, with a committee which includes the Department and it does not preclude currently, as it stands, the appointment of somebody who is an acting civil servant or somebody who has just exited the Civil Service.

There is an absolute requirement in terms of independence, transparency, governance and having that degree of remove.