Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

There is no reason a Deputy with an interest in the matter could not do as good a job as a member of an appeal tribunal. There is no point in restricting membership. Let it be a matter for the Minister of the day to make the appointments. Like the current Minister, who has run out of potential appointees at the bar because most of his friends have been appointed to various positions on tribunals and elsewhere, the Minister of the day could run out of people to appoint.

Amendment No. 18 arises out of subsection 16(7), which states: "Subject to this Part and to any general directions given to Appeal Tribunals by the Minister in the interests of securing consistency of procedures in relation to appeals under this Part, an Appeal Tribunal may determine its own procedure." I suggest that a requirement be placed on the tribunal to publish the reasons for its decisions, but that it could otherwise determine its procedures.

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