Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir MacSharry as deis a thabhairt dom cúpla focal a rá ar an ábhar seo.

I welcome the Minister of State. I also compliment Senators Boyle and de Búrca of the Green Party for tabling the motion. It is opportune and timely that we discuss this issue. Reference was made to the public service in general and the OECD review of the public service which acknowledged the central role played by the public service in our national development but stated we needed a more integrated public service and greater performance focus. Undoubtedly this is the case. I and many people took issue with the OECD on specific parts of the review but this is for another debate.

The propensity to establish boards in a wide range of areas has led to a lack of cohesion in certain areas and a lack of accountability for those bodies. It is interesting that now when one writes to various Ministers or Departments about functions and responsibilities which should attach to them one is referred to some of these agencies. As a consequence accountability is diminished and this needs to be examined.

I heard mention of the change introduced by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, which is innovative and a good idea. He will look to the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to make recommendations to him with regard to appointees to the boards of the RTE authority and the broadcasting authority. Today, in a private meeting with the Minister we debated how to go about this. There is an interest in ensuring that the process is transparent and fair and meets the aspirations of the Minister in this regard. I must state that I detected a certain reluctance on behalf of Members of the Opposition to fully embrace the opportunity we were given. This would be a pity. We will be the first committee to consider this and if we do so in a way which subsequently proves to have been done very well it will provide a template for dealing with other boards.

Having stated this, I am very firmly of the view that Ministers and the Government are the people to make appointments to those boards. They should be able to stand over the appointments and be accountable for them. It should be on the basis of the people being appointed having the abilities, capacities and skills to make the necessary contribution to the boards to which they are being appointed. This should be done in a transparent way. I agree that either the joint committees or, as has been suggested by many of my colleagues, the Seanad or a sub-committee of the Seanad, would have the nominees come before them and they would be subject to recommendation or veto. This might be useful but the people should be nominated by the Minister.

I compliment Senator Bacik not so much for what she stated but for the fact she had the ability to say it with a straight face. She mentioned cronyism with regard to appointments. From 1994 to 1997, her party, Democratic Left, which is now called the Labour Party——