Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I welcome much of what the Minister of State said. We agree that we want the best people willing to serve on the board of FÁS and a series of other agencies. While we are talking about FÁS today, should we be talking about another agency tomorrow we would propose the same principle on the need for in-house approval. The Minister of State indicated a departure, whereby positions on the board will be advertised and expressions of interest will be sought. It is still open to the Minister to ignore those applicants. There is no onus on the Minister to accept these candidates. The Minister can appoint whoever he or she wishes. That does not address the issue. Our amendment, referring to the approval of a committee, means that this is open to flexibility thereafter in how this is done. Accepting this amendment does not mean the applicants must troop in before a committee. It could be done in a variety of ways. The flexibility and creativity could be generated by the committee in respect of dealing with concerns people may have. This is an important amendment. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider.