Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

Ireland is represented by public servants every day on all sorts of boards, committees and organisations. Whether it is appropriate to appoint a politician or public servant depends in part on the nature of the body in question, how political it is and the approach taken by other countries. If other countries are, without exception, putting forward as their representatives officials of their Departments of Finance, central banks or similar institutions, it would not be appropriate for Ireland to nominate a politician. Some appointees to positions in organisations such as the European Central Bank are politicians or, as in the case of the current Irish member of the ECB, officials from the Department of Finance. This is a borderline area.