Shane Ross (Independent)

That is my point; he is a former Senator from the Fianna Fáil Party. He has a loyalty to a party which we could do without while occupying a crucial position. That is why the appointments were bad. Thousands of people were available and capable, but we had to come up with the ultimate insider in the banking system and an insider in Fianna Fáil. That is why I have problems with the Bill. Whereas the Minister's appointments to the Central Bank have been excellent, how are we to trust any Government - the tradition in this country is appalling in that regard - to make independent appointments to the board of the office of the regulator? Including the ex officio members mentioned by the Minister, the Bill provides for between six and eight political appointments.

I will not discuss the individuals concerned in the Central Bank, but we cannot be proud of the record of any party on political appointments, even the most sensitive ones. I would have thought this Bill, on which the financial credibility of the State rests, would change the record. If we make the wrong appointments and global investors who have a favourable view of Ireland because of the Minister's record see the Central Bank or the regulator being treated like a quango, their confidence in these bodies will drop, with our credit rating. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and, while I acknowledge the Minister does not make all the appointments himself, the record of the Government in its appointments is no better than any other's. I do not trust Fine Gael and the Labour Party to refrain from putting their own people in the Central Bank. Legislation such as this is not made for the incumbent; it is made for successive Governments in the next 30 or 50 years. The Bill creates the potential for abuse in a particularly sensitive area. Even the Green Party is nominating its own people.