Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 6, to delete lines 31 to 34.

I welcome the Minister to the House and again thank him for making himself available to the House as opposed to sending one of his junior colleagues. We are very appreciative of that.

As on Committee Stage, our difficulty with the section is that one cannot get the job unless one has had the job. That is flawed. It does not add to what the Minister is trying to do. That is not to impugn the qualifications or potential of the incumbent in a similar position in the outgoing organisation. There are capabilities to get that job but it is wrong that an essential prerequisite is that one has had a similar job previously. To draw on the poetic theme referred to in the debate this morning as opposed to the nautical theme referred to during the debate on Committee Stage, that is what led to my using the metaphor of the Titanic. If the Titanic has been called the Olympic, would it have stayed afloat? The answer to that is "No". I believe the Minister knows the point I am making from the debate on the section on Committee Stage.