Seanad debates

Tuesday, 3 December 2002

Digital Hub Development Agency Bill, 2002: Report and Final Stages.

 

The provision we are discussing is appropriate to the role of a civil servant in a Government Department when representing his or her Minister in relation to a review of expenditure, as voted in the Dáil. In that scenario, the civil servant is simply doing the Minister's bidding. However, it is a travesty of the role of the chief executive of a State agency, particularly an agency which must operate in the commercial sector. For example, the chief executive would be precluded from speaking about Government plans for the roll-out of broadband in Dublin, even to the extent of expressing approval. The subsection does not merely preclude criticism, it actually prevents any expression of opinion on the merits of any policy or the objectives of such policy. If, for example, the Government decided to abandon the use of fibre optic cable in the national broadband roll-out and use something less useful—

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