Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I accept that. On Second Stage here I indicated that various possibilities could exist and the Government was not attempting to impose any individual on the commission as deputy chairperson. Given that the Ceann Comhairle, like the Cathaoirleach, has to be above party politics, it seems reasonable for him or her to make the choice and for that choice to be made on one criterion, his view of who would best stand in for him in the interests of the commission. It is not my place to drop heavy hints to the chairperson as to who that person should be, particularly when we do not know who will be the ordinary members of the commission. As I said in the Dáil, I do not see the commission as the kind of body that should divide on party grounds. I do not see it splitting on the grounds of whether someone is from the Seanad or from the Dáil. It would be sad if the message went out that we expected there would be factions within the commission either among parties or between the Seanad or the Dáil.

The priority is that the business of the commission should be conducted in a businesslike fashion. If the Cathaoirleach is unavailable his choice of deputy chairperson should be sufficient and I would expect, in a small group of ten people, that it would be a consensus decision. I am keen to allow the commission to make up its own mind when it is formed with regard to those particular decisions. For that reason I cannot accept the amendment.