Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

Members of local authorities increasingly deal with ever-growing budgets. They seem to be capable and the Government and everyone else is aware of the multi-million euro development plans they deal with, between waste management plans etc. If the public accepts that elected local authority members are capable of taking control and dealing efficiently with a multi-million euro industry, they are capable of sitting on this board and making the right decisions.

Since I entered politics, I have never seen any conflict of interest on any side of the political divide. This debate is about the right of public representatives to be on this board. We are falling for the public and indeed media perceptions sometimes aired that no politician is capable of doing the right job and cannot be trusted. Any time I have sat on VECs, etc., I was very proud of all my colleagues regardless of their political affiliations, because they always made the right decisions. The only time, however, I felt that a decision of the wrong nature was made was when there were people within the system with their own ideology and political favouritism.

We are losing sight of who is elected. People elect politicians and local authority members to make the right decisions. One now sees people in unelected positions taking the serious decisions in health boards and on public bodies right across the country. They are accountable to nobody. At least politicians are accountable to their peers and to the electorate. I am pressing this amendment.