Shane Ross (Independent)

If the Minister tells me not to worry and states the members will all be appointed because they know a lot about road safety and transport, I will just tell him I do not believe him — that is no reflection on him. The experience of those of us in politics and others is that politicians appoint their friends and relations to boards, even to the boards of the most vital, sensitive State agencies and semi-State bodies. That is unfortunately true and it is treating the boards with utter contempt. It is also treating the issues involved — in this case, road safety — with utter contempt. This would have been an appropriate time to establish a board that is not appointed exclusively by the Minister, and preferably not appointed by him all. The road safety authority, like so many others, is likely to become not just a creature of the Government but also a creature of a political party. The Bill represents an unfortunate blueprint in this regard. However, this may not be the case regarding Gay Byrne.

I do not know whether it is a good idea to amalgamate these agencies or what is going on behind the scenes but it strikes me as particularly regrettable that no opportunity was taken to relieve the Minister of some of his extraordinary power of political interference in this issue. There is not a paragraph in the Bill that does not mention the Minister. Even the plans the authority makes must be subject to the consent of the Minister. Why the hell should they? Why can the board not comprise people of undoubted abilities and talents who would be given a budget and told to get on with it? In every paragraph, the Bill states that the appointees must seek political approval. Road safety should not be subject to day to day political approval. There is a Government policy on road safety but the Government should not be micro-managing road safety down to the last sign, budget and penny.

My proposal regarding political interference should also extend to the appointment of

Let me refer to another extraordinary clause that is included in all Bills such as this. All board members must make declarations of interest, a pattern followed in most of these Bills. I hope the Minister does not reply by stating that this is standard. That would not be an acceptable reply. Declarations of interest are made only to the board and no member of the public can know what these are.