Shane Ross (Independent)

I thank all Senators who contributed and the Minister of State and everyone else for their constructive attitude to the Bill as proposed. It has been debated in a somewhat restrained atmosphere, and there has been to some degree a cosy acceptance that there are many good decent people on these boards. That is absolutely true. There is no attempt in this Bill to attack those people or downgrade them in any way.

However, I do not believe that the Minister of State and those on the Government side should seek to say, in effect, "Don't hit me, I've got the baby in my arms", and infer that because there many good members of State boards we cannot criticise the others or that the system and the principle are therefore right. That is not true. Many people sit on State boards because of the money. There is a good deal of money involved in this. Members of the board of CIE get €17,000 a year and FÁS board members got €14,000 a year. That is why many people take such appointments, not because they have a sense of public duty. They like the cash.