Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 67:

In page 34, line 17, to delete “appoint” and substitute “nominate”.

Committee members will be delighted to hear that I will not be speaking about each amendment individually. We will get out of here before lunchtime.

These amendments are collective and interlinked. They relate to the advisory panel that will advise the Minister on transactions reviewed under the screening system. At the core of this legislation and given the seriousness of the system being established by the Government, it is important that this panel is made up of the best possible talent within the requisite Departments. In order for this to be the case, there should be competition to ensure the right people get into these positions. I propose that the Minister's nominees be appraised by the Top Level Appointments Committee, TLAC, and only appointed to the advisory panel if the TLAC is satisfied. In addition, I propose an amendment to have a member nominated by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This is in reference to a point I made previously. I appreciate the points the Minister made about other mechanisms that might exist. However, to be a bit belt, braces and baler twine about the whole thing, I imagine given the importance of housing, especially in this climate but also in general, it would be no harm to have a representative of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The intention of amendments Nos. 67 to 79 is to ensure the very best people are advising on this. Given all we have discussed this morning about the geopolitical situation and the need to get this right, it is important that we have the right people on this advisory panel.

I assure the Deputy that the best people are going to be on the panel. As outlined in the legislation, those who will be on the panel will be at principal officer grade or above and already appointed as civil servants. TLAC only applied to grades above assistant secretary. The operation of the panel is set out in the Bill so I can be sure about the quality and that we will have the absolute best on the panel.

On the process of a Minister nominating a panel member, that allows each Department to ensure that the schools of that Department are going to be represented and, more importantly, the perspective of that Department will be represented on the advisory panel. The person, or representative of the Department, will bring his or her specific Department's perspective and experience to the panel. The amendment is unnecessary given that the quality will be there.

On the amendment that seeks the appointment of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the advisory panel, in cases where it is necessary for a Minister to attend the advisory panel then he or she can be invited, if needed. We would encourage that if there is a transaction in this space. For instance, I referenced an example earlier whereby a housing application might overlook a sensitive site so there would be a representative from the Department there. Not every Department will be represented on the panel but there are mechanisms to ensure there are inputs from every Department. Where a transaction is specific to a Department there are inputs there so it has its input and participation. There is no need for permanent representation on the panel by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage because there will be many transactions that do not deal with housing and I hope that his officials are focused completely on housing.