Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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Exactly. We need to get away from maybe splitting it but we also need to make sure the legislation does enable both to happen, whatever it may be called. There is a confidence around the board structure. Is there language we could put in that might not tie us necessarily to who exactly should be put in but might talk about competency and diversity of views on the board? Is there also language the witnesses feels they could recommend around the role of the Minister and maybe around what the Minister would be looking at in his decision-making because, again, that issue around the role of the Minister has been raised. There has to be a role for the Minister but it is about ensuring that the legislation defines that a little bit better.

The other point that has been raised with me is whether we can do something, and these are my words, about a matchmaking approach to other organisations like the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, and Environmental protection Agency, EPA? They are also doing research but it appears at the moment that there is a siloing of research whereby one aspect is for the academics and then Teagasc or whatever does its own research. How can we ensure through this structure that we are getting the best bang for our buck terms of the very best research Ireland has to offer?