Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Green Party's Appointments to Public Bodies Bill 2007. While I compliment Deputy Boyle on introducing the Bill — I understand he did the spadework in this instance, as he so often does — I caution against the establishment of another quango to do quite a simple job. I have doubts about the practicality of the Bill's proposal that an Oireachtas committee be set up to vet applicants or nominees for positions in public bodies. My wonderment is based on my feelings about the current operation of the committee system. Deputies are stretched to the limit in many cases when trying to cover their committee work and follow proceedings in the Dáil Chamber. I wonder if the establishment of a committee, the remit of which would be to vet people's qualifications, would be successful. If one examines the work of the sub-committee which deals with EU directives, one will quickly learn that it does not have enough time to consider issues in detail. If the proposed appointments committee is established, I suspect similar circumstances will be encountered. Will this proposal genuinely improve the situation, or has it merely been suggested to improve the optics?

While I agree that the process of making appointments to many public bodies needs to be scrutinised, a distinction needs to be made between appointments to An Bord Pleanála, for example, and appointments to prison visiting committees. It is obvious that decisions made by An Bord Pleanála which was mentioned many times during the debate last night are often of fundamental importance to communities. The public can only have confidence in the decisions of a body such as An Bord Pleanála if it has confidence in the people making those decisions. The only way people can have confidence in such decisions is if they are fully aware of the appointments, if they are told why individuals are being appointed, if they are satisfied that appointees have no vested interests, if they are happy that the appointees will act impartially in making decisions and if they are convinced that appointees will act in the common good. A change in the system of making appointments to public bodies is needed if such a level of confidence is to be achieved. Despite what I said about the establishment of another Oireachtas committee, it may be appropriate to provide for a committee to vet appointments to bodies such as An Bord Pleanála. That might be the only democratic way of verifying that the system is transparent and open. It is not alleged that all appointments made under the present system are suspect. In many cases, people offer their time and experience for a minimal allowance.

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