Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is unlikely, because of the term the Government has lasted, that it will be possible to complete that aspect of the programme. I do not accept for one moment the pejorative term used by Deputy Gilmore with regard to the filling of State boards. He is a person who often comes into the House and speaks about the need for proper corporate governance and the need for boards to act effectively. We cannot have an effective oversight mechanism of a board if we do not have the board filled by the numbers set out under statute to be members of the board so as to give strategic direction to the board and hold management to account. We often discuss in this House issues of management and accountability in some of these agencies, which require the oversight of boards and board approval for major policy decisions taken. Therefore, I do not accept the pejorative used by the Deputy. Where vacancies arise, they are filled in the appropriate and proper way in line with practice. None has been brought to my personal attention, but many of them can be filled by ministerial remit. As the Deputy is aware, very few State board appointments come to Cabinet for appointment, although there are some that require Cabinet approval and some, by convention, are brought for Cabinet approval. In the main, many vacancies are for departmental agencies etc. and these are filled by the Ministers concerned. I have no reason to doubt the calibre of any of the appointments that have been made.

I came into office in an unusual situation in 1997 when the Deputy was a member of the previous Government. Then, in the Department of Health my predecessor sought to fill health board vacancies throughout the country when the vacancies did not arise during the tenure of that Government but during my tenure. I felt then that the old principle, nemo dat quod non habet, applied. In other words, one cannot give what one does not have. When I made the decision to retract those appointments, as they were not properly and appropriately provided for under the Acts, I was described in various pejorative terms by the Opposition at the time. I was indeed threatened publicly with legal action by two of those appointees, who were Ministers of State when they were being appointed to the health boards. As the Deputy is aware, the law at the time was that a Minister of State could not be appointed to a State board. That was done at a previous time, but perhaps the Deputy was busy doing other things. It is certainly not something that attracted public comment from the Deputy at the time. I dealt with the issue appropriately and never got the writs. One of the appointees in question was from the Deputy's own party.

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