Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

That is another big word. The Minister of State should get to grips with decentralisation first and then he can move on to the New Zealand model.

Unfortunately, as we discussed during Taoiseach's Questions earlier, we have a legacy to deal with in this regard. The various tribunals of inquiry have highlighted the aloof manner in which appointments to State bodies took place. Former Deputy Ray Burke made a number of appointments to An Bord Pleanála, which came back to haunt him, and we are all the worse off for that. It is not possible even today to establish clearly the criteria under which appointments to bodies such as An Bord Pleanála are made. For example, an individual appointed to the Environmental Protection Agency was a former employee of an incineration company. Given the remit of the agency, that appointment did not add to the organisation's objectivity and impartiality because procedures were not in place to remove any doubt about a motivation that was less than honourable. That leaves question marks, which does not do the body politic any good nor is it good for public confidence in politics.

At the same time, when one seeks to investigate appointments, a number of the bodies are not covered by freedom of information or Ombudsman legislation and we are left with more questions. This is important in the context of questions being raised by school boards of management through the State. On the one hand, appointments are made to prison visiting committees with the only criterion being that the person must live many miles away from the prison to be visited so he or she can benefit significantly from the mileage allowance that can be garnered from the work involved.

See this speech in context