Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I congratulate Senator Feargal Quinn on bringing the Bill before the House. I spoke to him about this legislation before this afternoon. As we are all aware, as a country we are still hugely burdened with a terrifying amount of debt. Many of our citizens are unemployed, many have huge mortgages, there is a great deal of homelessness and a huge amount of suffering. As Senator Feargal Quinn said, we are asking that some sacrifices be made by the bright and the best. I take the Senator's point that if Senator Quinn wants the best, he pays for it. We all know that the payments made to those who serve on these boards are not large and the Bill allows for expenses. Whether one comes from Cork, Kerry, Donegal or Mayo, provision is made for expenses but it is one's time, expertise, skill and experience that is being sought.

When doing my research, I noted that it was the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, who put forward the idea of asking people to waive their fees. I remember the 2011 Global Economic Forum when a very brilliant, plain speaking man from Limerick, Mr. John Hartnett, who is busy on the west coast of America in the tech industry, suggested looking at the brilliant people in the diaspora. Many people who wanted to help in Ireland came forward and served on boards without being remunerated. I take the point that we want everybody. We want transparency and not just wealthy retired individuals. From my experience, many people who would regard it as an honour to serve on State boards and would be willing to give of their time.

While preparing for the debate, I came across a survey from MERC Partners which was published in March 2013. Some of the results contained in that document brought home to me something which I felt was the case in any event. However, the situation appears to be more grave and warrants discussion and proves why Senator Feargal Quinn's Bill is timely and the Government should consider accepting it. The survey found that just 80% of respondents would be happy to put themselves forward for a position on a State board with the remainder fearing negative publicity or being unlikely to be successful without political affiliations. We should consider this statement. To my mind, that means there is a good chance that currently we are not attracting the best people to our State boards. Given that the MERC Partners survey was conducted among the country's leading executives and directors, the statistic that only 20% of respondents would be willing to serve on State boards is a matter of concern. Since the Government came to office, one Minister has appointed 311 people to State boards, only one fifth of whom were selected from the Government's much heralded public advertising process. That is a worrying statistic.

An issue I focused on, and the Minister of State referred to it in his contribution, is that the Bill defines "public body" as an entity that is wholly or patly funded directly or indirectly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas or from the Central Fund. I refer to the not-for-profit charity sector and some of the terrible events that have unfolded in the past ten months and the damage done to the wonderful volunteers around Ireland who give of their time to do so much work for vulnerable people. I ask the Minister of State to consider the Bill in respect of this particular area. Any charity, not-for-profit entity or commercial entity that is funded by the State should be treated today like a State board. We all want complete transparency. We want to see people with the skills and strategies needed for these charities, not-for-profits or the commercial entities that are afforded funding by the State. As well being transparent, the selection process must be objective, impartial and fair. We are seeking the right mix of skills, knowledge and expertise. There is no doubt that the dreadful publicity is all about money and what people are being paid and if they gave service to the board. If those people had been paid nothing, there would have been nothing for the newspapers to write about. This is a difficult issue about which I have thought long and hard but there are so many people who would give of their time, for example, a day a month which involves much reading and preparation.

It is a significant problem which has been highlighted by the Committee of Public Accounts. I thank the Minister of State for his contribution and I am pleased that heads of a Bill will be prepared. I ask him to please consider Senator Quinn's Bill because the question of payments to members of boards can be very problematic as we have seen in recent years.