Shane Ross (Independent)

What percentage of the vote did the Green Party achieve? It is putting its own people in CIE, as well as here, there and everywhere. The people concerned are identifiably loyal to the party. This is a pity and a flaw in the system. The Bill offered us an opportunity to part company with that principle.

The Minister outlined the protection given by the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service to witnesses appearing before it. Several weeks ago I had an experience at the committee, at which a ministerial appointee, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, refused point blank to answer perfectly reasonable questions. I asked him about his involvement in the selection of Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Eames and how the process worked. Mr. Dukes refused to answer my questions. If this legislation is to work, the Minister should assure us that non-executives and members of the commission, as well as the Governor and executives, will be required to answer questions before the appropriate Oireachtas committees. They should not be allowed to say, "Sorry, I am not going to answer that question," unless it would involve giving commercially sensitive information. If it concerns a politically sensitive issue, let us hear the replies.

My main reservation about the Bill is that the flaw I have identified is so big it will discredit the sincere intentions behind it. I note the consumer functions provided for in the Bill.