Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the point Deputy Eamon Ryan made about county managers, I agree that many of them have left a lot to be desired. Does the Deputy not think that many of the county managers we have seen in our lifetime were political appointees? More often than not, we can tell which party supported the managers in different counties. We cannot do it all of the time but we can do it most of the time.

There is probably a different way of looking at matters. The Minister of State made the argument that we, as politicians and elected representatives, should be allowed to make the final decision but, from the six years I have been a Member of this House, I have been struck by the fact that political interference causes more problems that it solves. We are here to legislate but we should be able to put independent individuals into these positions, not people who are political appointees. There is a major factor in the context of those who pick the people that will do the job. I understand that and it is a difficult one to get right. If we can find independent people of quality to do the work, that is the way forward.

A perfect example of this is the Policing Authority. It is a puppet of the Government. It is not independent. It has been irrelevant since Christmas. There has been one crisis after another in the Garda Síochána but the authority is not allowed hold the Garda Commissioner to account. Only the Minister for Justice and Equality can do that. The Policing Authority is another body we have created that the politicians of the day can handle. They can control it. They are still only too happy to control An Garda Síochána. They do not want to give up the politicisation of policing and the Government does not want to give up the politicisation of how we do planning and how we regulate matters relating to it.

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