John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The effect of this amendment would be that any person appointed to the board would have to face a committee which could deem that person unsuitable. There is no doubt this could lead to a major political wrangle over nominations and would lead to opposition to appointments for political reasons. This would not be conducive to the good working of the board and everybody would agree with that.

There is such a vetting system in the United States and, while it is often quoted as being a good precedent for the appointment of members to boards, it invariably gives rise to unseemly and interminable political wrangles. They sometimes make good copy but little sense.