Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on Deputy Varadkar's Private Members' motion on the Public Appointments Transparency Bill. We all agree on the need for greater transparency and accountability for State appointments, whether the appointment of the chairperson of a board or the chief executive of any given State agency or authority. However, I do not agree with Deputy Varadkar's statement last night that people should be rewarded for participating in the political process, nor do I believe people should be penalised for it. In recent months we have seen the appointment of public interest directors to the financial institutions by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan. A non-partisan way forward is the best approach. People from all sides of the House, those with political experience or those outside with no political experience but with the correct commercial experience should be appointed where they are deemed to be appropriate. Once appointees are in position on a board or acting as chief executives, they are acting on behalf of the State, not on behalf of a political party or the Government. Therefore, it is fundamentally important for the democratic process that such appointments are properly made and are seen to be properly made.

I refer to a point made by Deputy Rabbitte, elaborating on another point made by Deputy Frank Feighan last night concerning the accountability of some State bodies to this House. Deputy Feighan remarked that if a Member poses a question about the National Roads Authority, he or she receives a standard letter that the Minister has no responsibility to Dáil Éireann on the matter raised. I agree with Deputies Rabbitte and Feighan that this system must be changed because wherever public expenditure decisions are made, whether by a State agency or authority, ultimately, the Minister has political responsibility for those decisions. Answers should be made available in this House when questions are put.

We are all aware of the system with regard to the HSE and the cumbersome process in place to answer parliamentary questions, which can take up to three, four or even five weeks. It is symptomatic of the way this House has devolved power away from the political process over many years and it is time we re-assumed that power to the House. We are the elected public representatives with a mandate and we should not be afraid to take responsibility for decisions or to be accountable for those decisions in this House.

I refer to the issue at the heart of Deputy Varadkar's Bill. There is no question that the traditional system of State appointments to boards and the appointment of chief executives should be reviewed. The process must be publically transparent and appointments should be above party politics. The single greatest qualification that a person should demonstrate in securing such an appointment is relevant experience, not a background in a political party nor that he or she is friends of anybody. This should be the most important criterion. It is important to draw a distinction in the vetting process between the appointment of a non-executive chairperson of a board and a chief executive because these are completely different roles. The latter role is an executive position including the role of Accounting Officer before the Committee of Public Accounts, following any report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, whereas the chairperson is an non-executive member of the board in many instances and it is a different role. A one-size-fits-all procedure in the Oireachtas would not necessarily be the most appropriate way forward.

It is important we do not put in place any barriers to finding the best people. If a vetting system is in place involving Oireachtas committees, would such hearings be held in public or private? Does this have the potential to degenerate into a circus? In fairness, Deputy Varadkar mentioned that personal issues or people's backgrounds should not be the subject of vetting in such an eventuality.

I am not convinced that the most appropriate way forward is for the Legislature to be directly involved in the vetting of candidates, whether in the appointment to a board or a chief executive, because not only are the appointments by the Minister to the boards important but, through other legislation, the appointment of other directors to boards, whether worker directors or appointments by other nominating bodies, are equally important. Are we suggesting all such appointments would come before the House? Everyone on the board is equal and has an equal responsibility.

Those are some initial comments and I thank Deputy Varadkar for putting forward the Bill. It is important that we hold a thorough debate and once the task force on public sector reform reports back on this issue we must try to achieve a consensus and improve the current system.

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