Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

However, the permanent government goes on and, as the Minister of State correctly states, the EPA goes on, and I do not feel quite as comfortable with their assurances. There are deficiencies.

It is not only the EPA, and I do not want to pick on it, because there are major problems right across the public service. There is a dearth of quality management. In fact, there are commentators, including union officials, who will tell one that there is no management in the public service and that there are only grades. That is a matter of concern. All one need do is look back at the financial crisis and the difficulties people have in this country to see that there were significant failures within the Department of Finance which, no more than the Central Bank and the Financial Services Regulator, was not fit for purpose. Unfortunately, the lessons from the crisis that we have learned have not been applied to improve the system in any shape or form, and that is a matter of significant regret to me and to many taxpayers.

This body which had a singular focus will now be subsumed into the EPA. If the EPA was the dynamic organisation that we would like it to be, perhaps the concerns would not be as significant. While I am not objecting in principle to the merger, although I might have some qualms about it, the RPII has created awareness of the dangers of exposure to high levels of radioactive radon gas and we are taking steps, through that awareness, to get citizens to take action. I am concerned that it could to some extent be lost within the remit of the much bigger conglomerate of the Environmental Protection Agency where it will not have that singular focus.

That is not only my concern. That has been expressed by others, including the board of the RPII who were magnanimous in accepting, as I fully accept, that it is Government's prerogative to decide what should happen in relation to public bodies. Professor Willie Reville, whom I know from my school days, is somebody of the highest calibre and highly regarded in this field. He has expressed to the committee, of which I am not a member, concerns that he and his board have about the loss of that identity, which had been created, within this new structure. Yesterday, Senator Mac Conghail made the point that branding in any area is important. Whether it is product sales or whatever, having an identifiable brand certainly assists either the sale of the product or the effectiveness of the campaign. As Senators will be aware, it is important in politics as well.

With that in mind, and noting that the Minister of State did not state whether he is accepting or rejecting my amendments-----