Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 18, line 30, after "persons" to insert "proposed to be".

While the system that is now being put in place with regard to appointments to the board is very welcome, the board on which the committee made recommendations in the past was subject to a difficulty in that the Minister makes appointments and the joint committee must determine what gaps must be filled. This has not been resolved to this day in regard to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. We propose that the Minister list the names of those individuals he proposes to appoint and that there be some connection between his doing so and the work to be done by the joint committee. The committee does not want to take over the role of the Minister because, ultimately, he has complete power in this matter. He should, therefore, not feel in any way threatened but we certainly need to learn from the experience we had. The system would be better and much more transparent and efficient if the Minister informed the committee of the individuals he proposed to appoint rather than having a fait accompli in respect of which the committee would have to determine how to proceed.

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