Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It should be open to the Minister of the day to appoint somebody from civic society generally. There is an absolute need to have on boards people with financial expertise and so forth. However, the Minister should not be precluded from appointing somebody whom he or she believes would make a good overall contribution to the work of the agency. The remit of the agency has expanded greatly over the past 24 hours. The scope of its remit is now way beyond what was originally envisaged. It now deals with debt management, the State Claims Agency, infrastructure projects through the newly established Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and NewERA, and provides support services to NAMA. Its role in the Irish economy is much wider than was ever envisaged. As such, I support the view that the Minister should not be precluded from appointing somebody from civic society, whether from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or an advocacy body dealing with people in mortgage arrears. I believe this option should be available to the Minister of the day.

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