Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for arranging this debate. For many years as a public representative, I have watched what has gone on in this country. Sometimes, I wondered whether we were even living in a republic or what criteria anyone needed to meet other than being a member of Fianna Fáil. I recall a member of that party boasting openly in public houses of keeping his people together by appointing 48 of them to State boards. That was his method of keeping the clan together and happy and of ensuring its members were available to him and his party when election time came. As a young politician, I sat through that in my area. Quite frankly, it disgusted me.

I support Senators Quinn and Zappone's remarks on people being remunerated. There are certain situations in which people need to be remunerated, some of which I will outline. For example, people who come from the community sector might not be in jobs or have financial rewards from other areas but have knowledge of and experience and expertise in community service. They cannot be debarred by being unable to afford to join State bodies. Equally, I do not see the point in well-heeled people being paid excessive amounts of money. There is a happy medium.

Regardless of the level of expertise or profession of a person who is involved in a community, anyone who has a political viewpoint or supports or is active in a political party should not be debarred. To do so would be to enter into farce. If one scratches deep enough, most people who are active in and like to serve their communities and State have political views. Some articulate them by way of political activism. We cannot be whiter than the snows of January. We must be realistic. We are in an era in which people are less willing to come forward to serve, be it at community, State board or political level. There must be a happy medium.

As I sat in the Chamber for the past 45 minutes, I looked through different lists of the fine people who were on State boards and identified many of them. They come from all political parties and serve their communities and State in a strong and forceful way for the country's betterment. That many are involved in politics should not debar them automatically.

The system the Minister has put in place needs a bit of tweaking, as mentioned by Senators Zappone and Whelan, but it is a damn sight better than the system of my younger days when one Oireachtas Member boasted of appointing 48 members of his clan to State boards.