Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, having replaced his colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, is probably not in a position to reply to the wider debate. However, he should accept that the proposal by the Government to reduce the nine general places to six and allow the Minister for Health and Children to directly appoint three people has everything to do with the initiation of the Bill, should it become an Act. It directly takes the nominating rights of nine people from the Minister for Education and Science and gives the Minister for Health and Children the right to make three of those nominations. If that does not constitute cronyism, I do not know what does. It is directly related to political personalities and has nothing to do with the specific skills needed in the formation of the council and is unrelated to the general good of the Bill.

The Minister of State was not present to hear the opening contributions on the amendment tabled in my name and that of Deputy Gormley. The amendment relates to a specific competency that should be on the board, which should be weighted towards the third level sector. In addition, there should be proper recognition of the role played by the institutes of technology in the development of training, particularly in the social care professions. Perhaps the Minister of State will take this second opportunity to respond on that issue. These amendments are not seeking that the Opposition directly appoint members to the council or that individual political parties within the Opposition make such appointments. This is a specific reference as to how the Bill should work from its inception in regard to the educational sector and the training of social care professionals in particular. On the surface, it appears to be a reasoned amendment. I am disappointed that the Minister of State seems to have followed the indifference of his colleague in not responding to that.

See this speech in context