Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chairman for agreeing to put this on the agenda today and asking the Minister, Deputy Creed, to deal with it while he was here. I thank the Minister for addressing it.

Some serious questions need to be answered on the procedures that were used for the unprecedented reappointment of the chief executive of a semi-State for a second time. The Minister's opening remarks did not address those issues. In reply to a parliamentary question from my colleague, Deputy Calleary, last July, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, indicated that he had granted sanction for the CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, Mr. Brian Kavanagh, to be appointed for a third time on the basis of a business case which had been put forward by the board of Horse Racing Ireland. Specifically, the reply to the parliamentary question indicated that a business case had been put forward by the board of Horse Racing Ireland and had been endorsed and supported by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed.

When the chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland contacted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, did he contact the Minister and indicate that he was acting with the authority of the board of Horse Racing Ireland or did he indicate that he was merely acting as chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland because that is an important distinction? The Act states that the appointment of the chief executive officer is a matter for the board of Horse Racing Ireland, subject to the consent of the relevant Ministers. If the Departments of the Ministers, Deputies Creed and Donohoe, merely received a request from the chairperson of the board of Horse Racing Ireland, but not indicating that the board had discussed the matter and had made the request, it would have been remiss of the Minister, Deputy Creed's Department to grant that without first clarifying that the board had discussed it and requested it and it was not simply the chairperson making the request.

Given what is in the legislation, I would have thought that would have been a matter of protocol for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Can the Minister clarify what was the nature of the request and how that approach was made? That is particularly important.

In my view, this breaks down into two issues. First, there is the issue of the reappointment for the first time of a semi-State CEO for a third period in breach of Government guidelines. I ask the Minister to elaborate further on why this unprecedented step was necessary.

The second part is whether proper procedure was followed in how the request was made, how it was dealt with by Government and how it was dealt with by the board of Horse Racing Ireland. It has been agreed that it was not dealt with by the board of Horse Racing Ireland and that raises significant governance questions. It behoves the Minister to explore that further and ensure that there is proper examination in the context of making sure that when semi-State body CEOs are being appointed, proper procedure is followed at all times. I would like answers from the Minister to those questions.