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

I take the point that the Minister of State made. I do not dispute in any way, shape, make or form the talent that exists within the Civil Service. It is important that such talent gets on to the advisory panel. It was not proposed that TLAC would make the appointments but that it would be involved and have oversight. I appreciate that TLAC is constrained by its make up in terms of an assistant Secretary and over.

I ask the Minister of State to explain the involvement of other Departments. It is on an as and when required basis. Let us say that the advisory body is discussing an issue that is material to, say, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, yet the panel chooses not to invite a person from that Department to the discussions. How can the Department ensure that it is represented? Is there a mechanism for the Department to feed into the process? I do not suggest that people will be unnecessarily obstructive and I am sure that they will not. I want to know what would happen in the event that this happened, and I mean people from whatever Department, although I have highlighted the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage because it is important. Let us say that a principal officer from the Department wants to make a submission or be involved but maybe the advisory group deems that they do not need such involvement. How would a conflict be dealt with in such a case? Is it simply up to the advisory body to invite somebody from the Department or is there a mechanism available to the body?