Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate her on her appointment. She is very well thought of on all sides of the House. So far she has performed, in my view, quite well in her portfolio following on from the very good work of my fellow county man, Jimmy Deenihan, in his time in the Department.

I find this situation puzzling, confusing and somewhat disturbing. I wish Mr. McNulty well in whatever position he is in, whether he finishes up here or not. I do not know him and have never met the man. It is not the norm for me to talk about people I do not know. The genesis of this problem resides with the Taoiseach who has had a problem with the Seanad this entire term. He totally misread the views of the Irish people about the Seanad when he hoisted the referendum upon them. He did not come out too well out of the additional two appointees he put on the Seanad selection committee when Senator MacSharry, against all the odds, won a vote. He added two Members just to copperfasten the majority which was a bit cavalier.

We are all politicians and we know how it works, but this one seems to be particularly crude, insofar as the Government promised a new type of politics which would be open, transparent and not all the things that bad Fianna Fáil were involved with all the years back. The reality is that this is a stroke of some sort. I understand Mr. McNulty did not apply for or respond to the advertisement for the position, yet he was plucked from relative arts obscurity to be placed on the board of the museum. It would appear he is also the candidate who will very shortly, in the absence of some enormous calamity, win a position in the Seanad. His career in IMMA will be extremely short-lived. It does not add up. I am sure the Minister is in a position she would prefer not to be in, but she will need to be more forthcoming on this matter. Whatever we say here, the public's antennae are out on this and I am sure the media will be beavering away as well. The Minister should give us the whole story.