Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

This section concerns the appointment of consultants and advisers, of which I expect there will be several. As it does not appear to be necessary to obtain consent from Forfás, the Minister or the Minister for Finance for such appointments, it appears the foundation can hire as many consultants and advisers as it wishes, provided it has the funds to pay for them.

The normal procedure is that there is some reference to such consultants and advisers who might be appointed having to obtain the necessary consent either from Forfás, the Minister or the Minister for Finance, but it does not appear to be necessary in this section. Will the Minister clarify the position? A situation could arise where consultants and advisers would get substantial amounts of money and there should be some control over that.