Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Darragh O'Brien has raised a valid query and I acknowledge that the Minister of State's response is possibly as good as it can be under the circumstances. Thinking about these two words "consultants" and "advisers" and the role played by such figures in the economic history of the country over the past decade, they have become two very frightening and negative words. When we are setting up a new body, such as Sport Ireland, it has to be our hope that the quality of the people initially appointed will be such that they will be able to do their jobs. We have seen too many situations in the past ten years in which decision-making has been farmed out. First it was farmed out from politicians to State boards and then from State boards to anonymous consultants and advisers.

The Minister of State made the valid point that we cannot completely tie the hands of the new body but we must try to ensure by virtue of the appointments at board, management and staff levels that people will be able to do their jobs 99.9% of the time. The less reliance we have on consultants and advisers the better. We need accountability and I am happy that there is provision in the Bill for Sport Ireland representatives to appear before the appropriate Oireachtas committees to answer for their steerage of the organisation. We should at least take on board the warning, if not the objection, from Senator Darragh O'Brien that consultants and advisers should be excluded to the maximum extent possible. People who are being paid with taxpayers' money should be doing the job for which they are paid.