James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Some 35 appointments have been made since the Green Party announcement on 22 November that it was leaving the Government and 20 of these have been made by that party, which is over 60%. Is this the Green Party's idea of a job strategy?

Deputy Varadkar put forward a Bill in the past which was not accepted by this House but which I believe should come before the House again. I wonder where it is on the Order Paper. The Deputy has a Private Members' motion down for the first week back in January. The solution is that all appointments should be advertised, all appointments should be screened by the relevant Oireachtas committee as set out in our "New Politics" document by Deputy Hogan, and all appointments should be made on the basis of merit and ability. They should not be made on the basis of what the previous Taoiseach said, which was that he did not appoint them because they gave him money, but because they were his friends. This is an outrageous way to run a country and is part of the reason we are in the mess we find ourselves.

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