Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I have not heard any argument yet as to why it should be 13 rather than 11. I appreciate the number is somewhat arbitrary but one does not want an authority that is unnecessarily large or unwieldy so, to some extent, this is a subjective judgment. There is no ideal number for the authority’s operation and, looking at the balance to be struck and the nature of the representation from the legal profession, 11 appeared to be the appropriate number. If there are convincing arguments as to why it should be 13 and not 11, I am happy to listen to them.

In regard to the nominating bodies, this is not simply a question of identifying the social partners and automatically putting them in as nominating bodies. The nominating bodies have been carefully chosen based on their expertise in different areas and their areas of work. I am not sure any particular added value would be brought to the expertise on the authority by an extra two people, one of whom happens to be nominated by IBEC and one by the ICTU. I am not being critical of either of those organisations. They play a very important role but I cannot see what is to be achieved or what is the added value in their nominating two extra people and turning the body from one of 11 to 13.