Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The chairperson will be designated by the chief executive of the agency or a person nominated by him or her, not the Minister. I do not have a role in this, good, bad or indifferent. In the election of such bodies, one sector of a vested interest could come together to ensure its man gets the job whereas I hope the chief executive, if he takes the position, will be above all that and will see the bigger picture to ensure that could not happen or to ensure his appointee will not represent a specific interest. Everybody could come together and decide to elect the representative of the local residents but he or she could have issues at variance with the educational or health interests of the campus or vice versa. We want to ensure that does not result from the consultative process because everybody's objective views must be taken on board. The subsection provides for this.