Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is perfectly normal for companies like Coca-Cola and McDonalds to speak of customers and consumers because that is what people are to them. People buy their products and those companies view people not as human beings or citizens but as consumers because that is what they do as far as such companies are concerned. The State should avoid playing into the same philosophy as large companies like that. The State should go the extra mile when forming legislation and should insist that the citizens of a country remain so and are not commercialised in this manner. Sadly, nowadays we build more shopping malls than community centres but I advise that the State should refrain from buying into this ideology.

As for the make-up of the forum, unless it is a body that has the potential and the will to challenge how an organisation such as Irish Water will operate, I will perceive it as being surplus to requirements and unnecessary. Similarly, the manner in which people are selected for committees, forums or authorities in Ireland is important but sadly it leaves much to be desired. There is a need for far greater independence in how people are selected. The question of who does the selecting is crucial because unless a truly independent body selects people, those who are selected can never be deemed to be independent. Members saw a powerful example in this regard recently with the appointments to the chair of the new policing authority and of the new Garda Commissioner, both of which clearly were political appointments. Both organisations are the poorer for it at a time when independence was something for which Members were screaming out and both organisations were entities that really could have done with it. In respect of this forum and its make-up, I suggest the Government should not establish any forum unless it is prepared to put in place an independent group to select those who will make up the forum.

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