Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 10, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:

"(12) Persons being proposed by the Minister for appointment as chairperson, the deputy chairperson and the ordinary members of the Board shall be required to make themselves available to the Committee to discuss the approach which they will take to their role as Board members and their views about the future contribution of the Board.

(13) In this section, 'Committee' means a committee appointed by either House of the Oireachtas or jointly by both Houses of the Oireachtas, other than—

(a) the Committee of Public Accounts, the Committee on Members' Interests of Dáil Éireann or the Committee on Members' Interests of Seanad Éireann, or

(b) a subcommittee of a committee referred to in paragraph (a).".

The person who is appointed to the board and has gone through the requisite processes may not always be the best person for the job. This amendment would require him or her to make himself or herself available to come before a committee, a definition of which is contained in the amendment. This is a belt-and-braces effort. We have seen issues with boards and members of boards. Notwithstanding the fact that they are all appointed in good faith and no Minister appoints a person to a board believing that he or she will not be the best person for the job, a second option in terms of oversight is proposed here.

See this speech in context