Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It does appear that the Minister appointed someone to the board of IMMA a week before he was nominated to run on the cultural and educational panel of the Seanad. I speak as one who knows about the qualification process for Seanad elections having been told that I could not qualify for the agricultural panel and that I was to run instead on the cultural and educational panel. That was from the officials of this House.

This appointment was then used as grounds to run on the cultural and educational panel. It is likely that this individual will get elected and the best of luck to him. Presumably, however, his tenure - to which the Minister referred - will then come to an end. That will show the disgraceful nature of the appointment.

The other context for this debate and the Minister's actions concerns the referendum of last October when the people were promised reform. They were promised that things would be done differently and that the old ways had gone. Well, not only have the old ways not gone, but things are worse than ever.

Questions arise that the Minister must answer. The Minister has not really answered the question about Mr. McNulty's qualifications for the job, although she has answered his qualifications for the Seanad. On its website, IMMA states that members of its board are artists. I do not know whether that applies to Mr. McNulty.

Who gave the order for this job to be given? Certainly, the talk doing the rounds of these Houses today is that there were instructions from the Government and the Fine Gael Party for this appointment to be made. For the Minister to take instructions on an important role such as this would be a gross breach of her responsibility as a member of the Cabinet. Was the job publicly advertised, or are the rumours that this person got the job without applying for it - that he got a phone call saying "You can go on IMMA" - true? These things add up to one conclusion: that this appointment was part of an electoral ploy. I do not know whether the Minister has looked at the Standards in Public Office Code of Conduct for Office Holders in respect of appointments to boards, but I have to say that my view is that she has skirted its requirements.