Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have made the case. Just because something has not happened in the past is never a strong enough argument, in my view, as to why it should not happen in the future. As I have said, while it does not happen within the Irish system, there are several examples of the practice internationally. I have cited the European Parliament as an example. Many senior European roles that have the exact same appointment process, but they need to be approved by the relevant committee. It is something that Irish Governments have traditionally been hostile to, because these things have been seen to be the preserve of the Minister. This does not diminish the role of the Minister in that the Minister will still have to approve the appointment, but it will also require that the Oireachtas committee has a role in terms of the accountability of that individual. I think there are countless areas in Irish public life where it would have proven very useful indeed if CEOs of State bodies had actually felt that they were accountable to the relevant sectoral committees. In this case, I think it is a good opportunity for this committee to have a very good and constructive working relationship with the incoming CEO.

Assuming the Minister's position, we put forward two different amendments, one of which takes the strong position that this committee would have power to ratify the appointment. In the absence of that, the second amendment seeks to provide that prior to an appointment being made, a proposed candidate will at least attend the Oireachtas committee to discuss his or her strategic priorities for the role. I would hope that if the Minister is refusing to accept amendment No. 25, at least he would accept amendment No. 29, which provides for that. In terms of the CEO role, there is a Dáil Standing Order in respect of the chairperson. I think it would be equally appropriate that that would be the case for CEOs as well, who we know, in reality, are the most powerful individuals in many of these bodies. Certainly, that is our experience of CEOs of many of the bodies that appear before this committee.