Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said to Deputy Sherlock, the Bill sets out that the board of the national automatic enrolment retirement savings authority, NAERSA, will contain a person who has knowledge or experience in matters relating to the interests of employees. Indeed, that person could well turn out to be a representative of ICTU or someone who would otherwise meet with the approval of trade unionists. However, accepting this amendment would, for balance, require the law also to reflect the need for the Minister to have regard to the views of any number of employer representatives as well. We all know that trade unions and employer representatives have many opportunities to provide the Minister of the day with their views. Therefore I do not believe this provision is necessary and I am not proposing to accept this amendment.

However, it is important to say that the membership of the board of NAERSA is not constituted on the basis of sectoral representation but instead on what that person has to offer the authority, and that is their skill set. As I said earlier, we will want somebody who has experience relating to the interests of employees. It is worth saying that when the Minister of the day appoints somebody to the board, the duties of the members of the board in the performance of their function shall be owed by them to the authority and the authority alone.

When the Minister of the day appoints someone to the board their loyalties must lie with the board and not with any representative group or sector. I have no doubt that somebody from the trade union sector would have the necessary skills. When appointing a board member, the Minister of the day must look at a broad skill set to make sure we have all of the different skill sets needed for the board. I do not propose to accept the amendment.

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