Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 39:

In page 23, line 12, before "The Agency" to insert "(1)".

The purpose of this amendment is to stamp out once and for all a practice that is definitely not in the public interest. When we set up a State body of any kind, the task we have set it is one which would be better done outside the framework of central government. We create State agencies to do specific jobs and in legislating for them we give them all the powers they need to do the job within the broader framework of the public service. We do not create a State body in order that it will delegate the doing of the job to someone else. The only people a State body can properly delegate to are its own staff.

That is not to say State bodies should not employ consultants on occasion. The consultant is a much maligned beast and I can understand the reason sometimes. There are exceptions, however, and times when their expert advice and input are needed. That is not the same as employing consultants to do the job one should do oneself.

I raise this issue because it happened recently, not once but twice. In one of those instances it had to do with the interim company that the Bill before the House will dissolve. It is not a theoretical issue but a practical and an immediate one. As legislators, we need to lay down a marker. My main objection is that it is a bad principle to delegate to an outside body and contractor the key function for which the agency was set up.