Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I answered Deputy Kenny's earlier question on this. There may be cases where it is essential that this is done, but generally filling all appointments in the interregnum — Deputy Kenny was honourable in admitting it has happened on all sides of the House — is not good practice. It does not look good to the members of the public. Anything that affects the House negatively in terms of how it is viewed by members of the public is bad for politics. On that basis I agree with the proposal but there would need to be an understanding on it. We are not too bad at understanding such practices. There should not be a practice of simply making appointments to fill boards in the event of a change of Government. Certainly if this arises with me, I will try to do the honourable thing.

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