Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The latest development in the John McNulty affair took place subsequent to my contribution on the Order of Business yesterday. It took place during our Order of Business, when the Taoiseach informed the Dáil that Mr. McNulty was requesting that people not vote for him. I put my own concerns about the manner of his appointment on the record last week, when I said it was unfortunate that anything might undermine the reform process of appointments to boards which the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform had initiated. It is essential that we see proper reform and, for that reason, I welcome the announcement yesterday by the Minister of a new and revised model for ministerial appointments to State boards so that for the first time we will see a clear process whereby all appointments to vacancies on boards will be advertised openly on the stateboards.ieportal, which is operated by the independent Public Appointments Service, PAS; vacancies will be managed through a transparent assessment system designed and implemented by the PAS; and Ministers will be supported by the service in making appointments to State boards and required to set out comprehensive criteria for the filling of vacancies.
We are aware this is not a particularly recent phenomenon. Under the previous Fianna Fáil Government there were many instances of stuffing of State boards. All of us want that process brought to an end and to ensure that a clear model is put in place with transparent and objective criteria for appointments to State boards through the PAS system. For this reason, I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, and ask the Leader to arrange a debate in due course on the reform agenda he has set out. The Minister will be coming to the House tomorrow to deal with the Freedom of Information Bill 2013, and he has been in the House previously to debate several pieces of legislation. In light of the announcement of the new process and the passage, hopefully tomorrow, of the aforementioned Bill, we should use the opportunity to debate the reform agenda generally. That would perhaps give us a context for the unfortunate issues that have arisen in the past week.
I also ask for a debate on the e-conveyancing model, which will be examined by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. We have debated this issue previously. It is a useful model to speed up and ensure greater efficiency in the conveyancing system in Ireland. The Law Society and others have put it forward and we will be hearing from them today and putting forward recommendations. I would like the opportunity to debate the issue in this House.