Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party promised to end the system whereby appointments to State boards are used as a form of political patronage and for rewarding insiders. It said that in future appointments to boards must be based on the capacity to do the job. It added that it intended to start that process immediately and to that end, it would reserve the right to seek the resignation of all those appointed to State boards since 22 November 2010. The party promised to publicly advertise all vacancies, invite applications from the public and create a database of citizens who were willing to serve on State boards.