Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

Before I deal with the amendment, I wish to respond to some of the comments made on Committee Stage that legislation of this type places elected representatives in the same category as criminals and bankrupts. I do not accept this proposition. Legislation by its nature has to be specific and these provisions, which as I said are standard in legislation of this type, deal quite separately with the issue of allowing elected public representatives on the board and the matter of unacceptable behaviour of a board member which leads to the member being dismissed from the board. For the sake of clarity the two concepts are dealt with in different sections. The issue of elected representatives is dealt with in sections 13 and 85 and the unacceptable behaviour of a board member in section 15. I reject the proposition that on reading the legislation anybody could reasonably equate or confuse the two issues.

In respect of the board of the authority, it should be noted that because the authority and the Office of the Chief Inspector of Social Services will perform such highly specialised functions, the legislation specifically provides, under section 13(2), that the Minister must appoint people with the appropriate qualifications and experience to the board. Given the specialised nature of the authority, all the members of the board of the interim authority have qualifications or backgrounds relevant to its functions. The membership includes people with a strong management background, medical consultants, including the medical director of the national pharmacoeconomics unit at St. James's Hospital, the chief executive of the Health Research Board, a speech and language therapy service manager as well as the chairperson of the National Cancer Registry. Senators will agree that the board of an organisation of this nature must have its members——