Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

We might disagree on that but whether there is the exact same representation of men and women on the board is less important than having a representative who has expertise and knowledge in this area. We must have general regard to gender balance on the board but being exacting in that area and not being prescriptive in the area of disability is wrong.

My amendment No. 13 seeks to facilitate a speedier and more efficient decision-making process when there is a vacancy on the board. If a person must leave the board for a reason, what the Minister is proposing in the legislation is that the Oireachtas committee would meet and go through the process of making a nomination, which the Minister will either accept or reject, to fill that role. If that happens at the start of July there will be no replacement until, say, September because the Oireachtas committee might not be able to meet to consider the matter. If there is a vacancy on a board it is the Minister's job to replace that person and then go to the Oireachtas committee to inform it of the reason the person has been chosen. In terms of going through that laborious process, and I am speaking against my own interests in Opposition, the Government must be efficient as well. It appears to be an overly laborious process for the Oireachtas committee to go through the process of interviewing, selecting and recommending a person to the Minister before he can make the choice to accept or reject that nomination to replace one person on the board. Should the chair of the board take ill, have an accident or have to leave because of a scandal, we do not have an efficient system to replace that person quickly, and that is a flaw. That is the reason I propose that the Minister would take charge in that scenario, make an appointment and stand over that appointment before a committee. This is an efficiency of Government issue also in terms of making a decision like that. That is the purpose of amendment No. 13 which I would have expected to come from Government rather than from Opposition.

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