Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

It does not, nor should it. One should allow the maximum possible discretion to pick the very best people for a board. I acknowledge what the Senator said about my efforts to try to do that at all times. That is why this is made as wide as possible.

Making the argument on the other side of that coin, if I end up with a board which has members from Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann, Bus Átha Cliath, the private transport sector and the Railway Procurement Agency, I will not have a very effective board because there will be a continuation of the turf wars we have had down through the years. A balance needs to be struck in this regard. I know Senators on all sides would agree that one cannot allow vested interests to dominate and paralyse a body.

This is a regulatory body which will be able to step in if Bus Éireann is not doing its job properly or if the RPA is not delivering a project properly, on time or within budget, as Senators mentioned. Can one imagine trying to use those powers with a company from the CIE group of companies if there were three members from the CIE group of companies on the board? Nothing here precludes me from appointing people with expertise to the board, including people who have an interest in, and a direct knowledge of, transport. For that reason, I will not accept the amendments.

I will not dwell on the point about local authority members. I take Senator Ellis's point and section 40 deals with that. I am sympathetic to the view expressed by a number of Senators, especially Senator Ellis, on this automatic exclusion of local authority members from boards. They should be excluded from some boards but I would not have a strong view that they should be excluded from the board of this authority. Perhaps we will discuss that later when we come to section 40 rather delay the House at this point. However, I know Senator Ryan's amendment states "one of whom shall be an elected member of a local authority". There is nothing in this section to prevent that from happening. Perhaps the time to have the discussion on the amendment is when we come to section 40 where they are singled out for exclusion.

I refer to the other point made by Senator Ellis. Generally speaking, I would draw the line at local authority members being members of the boards of authorities and boards. Oireachtas Members have other pitches on which to play.

I ask the Senators to withdraw amendment No. 21, which will be dealt with when we come to section 40, and amendment No. 22, because I want the maximum freedom for whoever is Minister to appoint the best possible people rather than vested interests.