Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

How many positions will be reserved for the card-carrying members of Fianna Fáil? Most of the Minister's appointees - I exclude civil servants and members of State companies such as those mentioned by him - are connected to Fianna Fáil. He has appointed a plethora of Fianna Fáil henchmen throughout the country to bodies that give incomes of €12,600 or more. The key point is the need for transparency and accountability.

All the Minister's appointments should be subject to the consent of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport. Appointees would not be asked by the committee whether they have ever been a member of Fianna Fáil, because that would be taken for granted in respect of many of them, but about their knowledge and experience of the business they are about to enter. The Minister is not being accountable in a transparent way, as is the case with some other Ministers. In fairness to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, he has been much more transparent in putting nominations before committees or asking committees to make nominations. This is better than drawing appointees from cumanna throughout the country.

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