Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I hope it will not be the case that an appointee will have to be a member or a chairperson of a Fianna Fáil cumann before he or she can be considered for one of these jobs. Is this not a ferocious attack on local democracy? The three councillors are being thrown off the boards of directors. It is also wrong headed. Who knows better than local councillors about the economic and social issues of the port areas? When this Bill comes before the Dáil, I will ask the Minister of State to reconsider this aspect.

A related matter is the cutting of the number of employee directors. We have had a great tradition in Dublin and elsewhere in which the employees also had representation on the board, often to very good effect. The Minister of State is preparing to cut the number down to just one employee director. Will he and the senior Minister reconsider this on Committee Stage of the Bill when it comes before this House? Deputy Ahern and I both served on Dublin City Council. We worked closely together on many issues affecting the city——

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