Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail)

As I indicated during the Committee Stage debate, I fully support the amendments which, as Senator Paddy Burke noted, secured cross-party support. It would be unfortunate if we were to continue with the recent trend of barring members of local authorities from sitting on particular State boards. It is lunacy to suggest that an individual considered good enough to sit on the board of the road safety authority would be deemed unsuitable for the position if he or she were elected to serve a community on a local authority. This is a ludicrous suggestion, with which I know the Minister of State disagrees.

As a former member of a local authority, the Minister of State will be aware of the work done by county councillors. They have vast experience, with a collective involvement in local government of hundreds of years in each county. They represent people, deal with road safety issues on a daily basis and lobby to secure improvements in their respective localities. Despite this, they are not considered good enough to sit on the board charged with overall responsibility for road safety for no other reason than their membership of a local authority. This proposal must not proceed and Members must take action to stop it.

If the Minister of State cannot see fit to accept the amendments and chooses instead to send out the message to local authority members that they have no role in the road safety authority, I and my colleagues who spoke against the provisions will be forced to vote in favour of the amendments. The Minister of State gave a commitment that he would do all in his power to change the provision and I accept he would have done so if it had been possible. Having known him for many years, he is a man of his word and a friend of local authority members, as he has proved time and again. I implore him to accept the amendments.