Shane Ross (Independent)

He was a fine appointment as chairman of Aer Lingus. However, the reason for these changes in the Aer Lingus board is not unrelated to the fact that boards must have a commercial ethos when they are to be sold. One cannot afford to appoint patently political people if the company is to be sold off. In order to get a company into the private sector, board members must be appointed on pure merit, not on political-merit grounds.

The universities are a subject dear to my heart. As a result of the Universities Bill, political appointments are now made to their boards. One political appointment is made to the University of Dublin board and that appointment was made by the previous Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods. However, despite incredible promises made here during the passage of the Universities Bill and despite the Bill stating that there must be consultation with the provost, that appointment was made without any consultation with Trinity College Dublin or the University of Dublin. The appointment was made by the Minister willy-nilly and the university was informed of it. Apart from anything else, that was a breach of the law. It was also a blatant political appointment of someone who was not unlinked with the political party of the then Minister Deputy Woods, and indeed his constituency.