Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would be easy to do. Alternatively, a select committee of the Seanad could scrutinise them. Some mechanism should be introduced to deal with it. Recently I saw the Leader at his committee which was interviewing the chairman designate of the Port of Waterford. The chairman designate acquitted himself well and the process was good, and it should be extended to all boards. Given the importance of our public boards and the deficiencies which have been identified in many of them in recent years, it is imperative that people of the highest calibre who can make a contribution and have influence on boards are appointed.

The second issue I raise goes to the core of the undermining of our democracy, namely, the public cynicism which can only be fuelled when the Government appoints a person to a board whom it knows will, within weeks, be ineligible to serve on the board. It is an abuse of the process of appointing people and goes against all best practices of our democracy. It is no wonder people are disillusioned with politicians and the public service. There is no good reason why a by-election to the Seanad should be confined to a small portion of the electorate which is controlled by the Government, and we should take this matter up. Why would we not allow the full Seanad electorate to participate in deciding who will fill the position in Seanad Éireann?