Mary Henry (Independent)

As everyone has said, it is difficult enough to get people involved in public and political life at the moment. It is very odd that local authorities have been included in the legislation. The Minister will appoint the people. We do not want it to be said that one simply needs to be a friend of the Minister to be appointed. Nobody wants to see this sort of thing happen.

The chief executive cannot be any of these dreadful people, be it a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament or a member of a local authority, but employees can be members of local authorities. As Senator Ryan said, if one becomes a member of a local authority, the Dáil or the European Parliament after one has been appointed to the board, one is all right because, apparently, one will not be dismissed. Does the chief inspector, to whom a section is devoted, fall inside or outside this category? There is nothing in that section to say that the chief inspector cannot be a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament or a member of a local authority?

There is very little consistency in this part of the legislation. Perhaps those who wrote it meant that it was fine once one was elected and that one could use it as a platform for becoming an MEP and continue on with what one was doing. It is a great pity that membership of local authorities is involved, whatever about the other two bodies where one might be considered so busy that one did not have time to do anything other than legislate. Is the chief inspector covered by it?