Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I hate to shatter the harmony of the House on this section, but I am obviously betraying the baggage I carry with me as a former civil servant. I agree with this provision. These people are not there to be representative. There is provision for local authority representation and reflection on policing through the local liaison committees. Whatever about county councillors, I do not think Members of the Oireachtas should be engaged in this. As a result of my past experience, I have been asked several times by the Public Appointments Service to sit on boards but I have always refused to do so. I think it is wrong for a Member of the Oireachtas to be involved in the making of public appointments or anything else like that. It might betray my background because I come from a place where we fought that sort of thing for years and I do not want to see it being reintroduced. They are not looking at policing, but at the management of policing and it is not unreasonable to exclude Members of the Oireachtas from that.