Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is unusual for the senior Minister to come in to deal with this legislation when the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, had been dealing with it. The Minister is welcome, and what I said is not a criticism, but it would have been appropriate if the Minister of State, Deputy Lenihan, had been here because I want to acknowledge in the Visitors Gallery the presence of Mr. Edward Power, who was secretary of the Federation of Salmon Anglers in 1980 when the Minister of State's father introduced the legislation at that time. It would have been nice if the young Minister, Deputy Lenihan could have been here to participate in this debate.

I appreciate some progress has been made on these amendments. I regret that the idea of the regional sub-fora has not been adopted as policy and written into the legislation but it is also a matter of regret that the Oireachtas joint committee, the Oireachtas itself, does not have at least the position of being consulted on this area of the Bill.

The Minister should not exaggerate the way things are done and that we should be reassured. The way things are done led to a fiasco regarding the setting up of the Broadcasting Authority and the consequent budget that was drawn up. An unaccountable system was put in place. We know where the money is coming from but we still do not know to where it goes.

Having an oversight or at least a consultative role for an Oireachtas committee is a useful safeguard but it also provides accountability. I know and appreciate that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, has shown a certain progressiveness in terms of the role of the committee in recommending appointments to various boards. Obviously, the Minister is going as far as he intends to go and therefore there is no point in me pressing my amendment but it is a pity he would not accept the two principles in my amendment that I believe would make for better legislation.

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