Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is perfectly reasonable and I am perfectly happy with that ruling. It is the case that people who happen to be running mates of people holding the highest office in the land have ended up in the Judiciary as have people who have been Members of the European Parliament. This is not acceptable if it is not done transparently and it is not being done transparently. The proposed measures appear to be restricted to semi-State bodies or agencies. I do not believe they will attack that problem which is deeply embedded in one of the most sensitive areas of this State. Judicial appointments should no longer be part of the spoils of war; they are and they have been.

What about appointments such as to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EBRD? That is one of the plum jobs which is handed out by successive Governments. It has been ruthlessly used to promote politicians who have no experience of banking but who usually have retired from this House while one or two of the others have been identified exclusively with the political party in power. The most recent appointment carries a salary of £172,000 per year which is taxed at a preferential rate. There was no interview. I do not know whether that job involved lobbying but it was given to someone who could not be described as a sympathiser with anybody on the Opposition benches but to someone who had a record of being an adviser to several Ministers in a rainbow Government. That practice will continue unless we take appointments of this sort - not just to semi-State bodies - out of the political arena. As Deputy Finian McGrath referred to in his contribution one has only to note the response to Private Members' Bills brought forward by both Sinn Féin and Independents, from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and Labour, to realise that they intend to keep their hands on the lever of cronyism, even if they intend to disguise it with well camouflaged legislation and rules in the future.

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