Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the thrust of this amendment and what it wants to achieve. I did not have the benefit of being involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny at the committee but my colleague, Senator Moynihan, did. I am familiar with the panel system which has been in place to nominate potential appointees from the nominating bodies. These are organisations, like the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, have been identified. Yes, the process is imperfect, requires modernisation and needs to be reformed. We are all agreed on that. It is capable of being reformed, so I am not sure and have not had the benefit of engaging with the Minister on this. Perhaps the Minister might articulate precisely what his concerns are in terms of the panel system because we are very much diverting now to an entirely different system where the Minister will assume quite considerable power to appoint people drawn from a very narrow base. I expressed those concerns on Second Stage and my colleague, Senator Moynihan, has also done so.

I agree with Deputy Ó Broin where the Minister is asking us to take on trust what he said in respect of how the appointment process will work. I accept that the Minister has good intentions but it is our job to interrogate those intentions and to try to fully understand what those are, and how this will all operate. The Bill states that he may appoint a committee. I believe that “may” should be changed to “shall” and the Minister should be required to do that, and perhaps the Minister shall work with us in doing that.

Unfortunately, we are having to complete all Stages today and will not have the opportunity to come back to this. However, if it proceeds in the way in which it is currently constructed, the Minister may end up regretting it in time, and we may have to come back to it when we are dealing with the omnibus Bill next year. I would appreciate it if the Minister used the opportunity provided to him to put on record what his precise concerns are with the operation of the panel system and why he does not think it is capable of being appropriately reformed.

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