Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The proposed amendment would allow local authority members to be eligible for appointment as members of the authority or its committees. The authority is an expert board with quasi-judicial functions and, as such, it is not just local authority members who are excluded; members of the European Parliament and Oireachtas Members are also excluded, to ensure there is no political influence in a matter where a quasi-judicial function is exercised.