Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

If one is nominated to Seanad Éireann, one will have to cease membership of the board. Senator Feeney was a member of the Medical Council while serving as a member of this House. If this provision were in place at that time, Senator Feeney would have had to resign from the Medical Council. The expertise she had acquired and the knowledge she made available as a member of the board would have been lost to the collective wisdom of that board. This proposed legislation is wrong. It is deeply flawed and it sends out a message, not only to local authority members but to the wider population who might be considering politics and public service as a career, that if one becomes a member of a local authority, there one will stay because the Minister will ensure he or she will not have any acknowledgement of his or her expertise when it comes to the appointment of State boards. That is the nub of this problem. It is not about anything else other than the attitude that has been adopted at the highest level towards local authority members. That is why I am against the provision.

I am a proud member of this Government. I am an equally proud member of Fianna Fáil. That is why I signed up to it and I will support Government policy.