Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is a super question. It is a tough one. It is very difficult to answer because we are all a product of our context. As for whoever fulfils that role, we can point to the examples that we have had in Wales where we have had the likes of Sophie Howe and Derek Walker, who have been in posts. Of course, we are all products of our context and our environment.

A strength is that they are not aligned to power. They will come from a background. They will probably be university educated and there will be all of those things that go along with it. They will probably have a Civil Service background and know how the levers of power work. That is, in a sense, unavoidable. In the context of the question the Senator put, there is a real challenge in that.

They are not somebody who has to win the next election, however. It is about trying to step outside of that electoral context. I had a conversation with Professor Tadhg O'Mahony, who was here last week, about an aspect he likes to talk about. I know, for example, that the Senator has run marathons. One does not run a marathon by saying, "I will start a marathon tomorrow." One says, "Nine months or ten months from now, I will run a marathon", and one works back from there. Similarly, Professor O'Mahony talks about taking that long-term lens where one does not say what we want next year. The Senator and I and Senator Clonan and the other political parties will disagree vehemently on what needs to happen for next year, but if we talk about 50 years from now and begin to form a vision of what we would like our society to look like 50 years from now, there is a good chance we would be closer to agreeing on what that should look like, be that the provision of housing, a safe and stable climate, the protection of biodiversity or clean energy resources. We would probably agree on that. Like in marathon preparation, if we start with that long-term goal and work back, maybe we can get away from some of those ingrained power imbalances that Senator Ruane was talking about. I would not pretend, however, that the solution to the problem she has put to me is contained within the provisions of this Bill. The Senator is looking at a much wider lens in terms of those systematic power imbalances that we see in our society. This commission has a role to push back on it but as for whether, within the 38 pages of this Bill, I am able to answer the Senator's question, I do not think I am.