Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for the comprehensive nature of his reply. I accept that many of the appointments he makes would fall under the Department of the Taoiseach or either be nominations by outside bodies or, as the Taoiseach said in one instance in the reply, the appointment of civil servants to a board.

As the Taoiseach knows, the proposed chairmen of State boards were to go before committees and that was something that he hailed as a revolution three years ago, although it is hardly a revolution. Will he accept that this process has become highly controlled? The only time it looked like a Government nominee might be in trouble, the Government backbenchers were whipped into line. Is the Taoiseach happy with the position that it is all a fait accompli in advance in terms of the appointments that are being made? There is much evidence that, notwithstanding the advertisement of appointments, Ministers are basically ignoring the process in reality-----

See this speech in context