Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When those 12-month appointments cease, we must ensure we have a system in place where people can apply for new roles in a new reformed an coimisiún pleanála. We need to have that as there has to be a transition. We cannot have a cliff edge between one system and the other. The reform of the appointment process for board members to the board of An Bord Pleanála is a critical step to ensure the impartiality and transparency of the board and, most importantly, to restore confidence in the board. It is in no way, shape or form any type of power grab or trying to go back to the future as was said earlier. It is not. This will be publicly advertised and people will apply. There will be an expert panel and I will give the House a sense of that.

I will come back to a suggestion made by Deputy Ó Broin, which I believe we can work with. If we look at other systems, such as a selection committee process, I would see this as similar to the selection committee for the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála, with the support of the Public Appointments Service, PAS, or an open competition which can be run directly by PAS. It is common in legislation that the selection process is not specified, or that it is explicitly specified that a recruitment competition is open. That is what is going to happen.

For example, the Land Development Agency, LDA, Act states that the Minister appoints the board and the board will appoint the chief executive. However, there is an open recruitment process for all of these positions and that works well through the PAS Stateboards.ieprocess for LDA non-executive board positions.

One can think about it in this way. Is it not a better process where any member of the public can apply, where their qualifications are gone through by an expert panel and where recommendations are made from there through a transparent open process, which is a public competition rather than a closed panel process? We believe that is a much fairer and much more transparent way to move.

This legislation needs to be passed in advance of the recess but I have no difficulty doing this with the joint Oireachtas committee early in the new year, when we have worked through and concluded this. The legislation states "may" but this is what is going to happen. We will have that panel in place. We can certainly share with Deputies and Senators through the joint Oireachtas committee, who are interested, what that structure and process will look like. We need to move and have the legislation passed to allow us to put that structure in place.

It is for those reasons that I will not be accepting amendment No. 1. I am happy to come back to the joint Oireachtas committee or whatever. The joint Oireachtas committee is probably the best mechanism to give clear sight to members of that committee, and through them to both Houses of the Oireachtas, what that structure and process will look like. We need to do this now. We are appointing interim members now, which we have to do. We have five board members and a chairperson, who is not even a chairperson yet. We will need to open that process and to have a public competition, so that nobody is excluded.

It is actually far less exclusionary than the current system. I respect what Members have said. I would not stop anyone from the RIAI, SCSI or any qualified person from applying through the process. The Bill is not inhibiting any of that. We want that input. We want diverse people from diverse backgrounds with the proper skills mix that is needed in An Bord Pleanála and on the board.

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