Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

It would take a considerable amount of time and effort to analyse the systems that are in place for appointments to public bodies. Thankfully, that time and effort has been invested by a group called TASC, a think tank for action on social change in Dublin. In support of the legislation, I will quote from TASC's report, which captures what I want to say. In 2005, the report identified approximately 5,000 appointments to public bodies at national level, the majority of which were in the gift of Government. If regional and local levels were included, that number would be significantly greater. The report stated:

Given the number of these appointments and the importance of the function which the appointees must perform, it is a big gap in our accountability structure that Ireland has no clearly established mechanism to ensure that appointments are free from undue political or other influence or that there is an effective independent appointments system in place. As of now, ministers and senior civil servants are responsible for appointing the majority of members to Public Bodies. Moreover, the influence of the Oireachtas in the making of these public appointments is negligible... There is a lack of clarity as to the expertise or experience which might objectively merit such appointments. Without clear criteria there is the danger of making appointments where the appointee has either mediocre ability or is lacking the appropriate skills and knowledge.

It also stated: "There are no effective mechanisms to ensure representation of the diversity of the Irish population: gender balance at 25%, is still short of the 40% guideline established in 1991." I am quoting, but not selectively. Had I the time, I would quote the entire report.

The report continues:

Overall, the present system of appointment to Public Bodies effectively gives elite groups a monopoly of such positions and therefore an inordinate degree of influence on decision making in the State... The unplanned and ad hoc mushrooming of Public Bodies combined with the lack of good information about them is bad for democracy. The very existence of these agencies in the ad hoc and fragmented manner in which they have grown up adds a further layer to the bureaucracy of government, constraining an individual citizen's ability to interact with an agency from which they are seeking a public service. The case has now been persuasively and repeatedly made for a strategic overview to be taken of Public Bodies, in accordance with clear criteria.

I will refer to two final quotes: "It is now more than forty years since the absence of a clear strategy for the establishment of Public Bodies has been identified as a key problem in urgent need of reform". This is not exactly a rush. Further, "Given the growing importance of Public Bodies and the influential role of non-elected individuals on important public decisions and actions, this accountability system needs to be extended to create an independent system for these appointments." The report's gist is clear.

It is interesting that the Progressive Democrats Party, which described itself in its founding mission statement as wanting to remove the State from people's lives, has been in government during the years of a proliferation of State bodies. The Government's accountability has been removed from people's lives. Indeed, the report, Outsourcing Government, from which I quoted is well named. I support the legislation.

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