Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 15, paragraph 11(2), line 8, after "chairperson" to insert "and members".

All of the members of the council are obliged to appear before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. That is both stimulating and useful and all of the members of the joint committee appreciate it. Why not proceed in the same way? The council is a collegiate body and, as the Minister of State indicated, its members are all eminently qualified.

The chairperson does not assert himself as chairperson. He might like to come along with all of his colleagues. Those of us on the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform like to see them all there. One would get a much better diversity of views and maybe even a little contrarianism, as the Minister of State mentioned. If it is a collegial body of equals, let us hear them all rather than create a different power structure that operates through the chairperson. A future chairperson might assume to speak on behalf of all the other members and we would never get to hear what those members had to say. That is the purpose of amendment No. 20. I will discuss No. 21 later.