Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is not agreed. I want to record the Labour Party's objection to the way in which this item is being taken. The proposal concerns the appointment of a chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. The procedure for this appointment is that a nomination is made by the Government, approval is required by the Oireachtas and the appointment is made by the President. There is a rationale to doing it that way. The rationale is that the appointment of this office, and similar type offices, should have all-party agreement across the Oireachtas.

The Government has not consulted the Labour Party about this appointment. We are being presented with a decision of Government. I want to be clear that I do not have any particular objection to the nominee being made by the Government but this is not the first time the Government has done that type of business in this way. When the appointment was being made to the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Government decided to replace former Labour Minister, Liam Kavanagh, with former Fianna Fáil Minister, Michael Smith, without any prior consultation. Similarly, when the appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General was being made, even though the Labour Party had flagged in advance that we wanted to be consulted about the appointment, no consultation took place. We now have this procedure again where no consultation has taken place.

Day in and day out people inside the House and outside it tell us we should all get together and agree issues but when it comes to agreeing issues——

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