Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is probably aware he has a fan club on this side of the House when it comes to this legislation.

I have the highest of regard for civil servants but, in a way, it is a bit sad that the onward rush of the media forced this and the previous Governments’ hand to take more authority away from central government in appointments because they were seen somehow to be questionable. It has gone to the extreme of the baby being thrown out with the bathwater if a Minister, elected by the people and subsequently ratified by the Dáil, is accused of not following the correct procedures adopted for the nomination of people to State appointments. Everything has been taken away from central government and the Minister of the day, and given to an appointments commission.

The appointments commission, with respect, is made up of civil servants. In this particular instance, with all due respect, those civil servants will operate under the criteria set down by the Government. That does not take account of what the Minister of State has heard from Senators Quinn and White. What do civil servants know about being at the coalface of business? With respect, horses for courses. They are excellent civil servants and superb at their job. That is the core of this argument. If it were a Minister who had exclusive responsibility for the appointment of the Low Pay Commission, I have no doubt it would have been a much broader church than what we have seen with this legislation. The Minister of the day would have known exactly what was required. Now, that has been given to a third party which is operating under paper requirements, criteria, recognition and acknowledgement, without the personal input or experience a Minister would bring to it.

I know it is a separate issue and argument but to me it is an example of how sad it is that such was the push by the media that one side of the argument has been lost. The only power the Minister of State has is one of ratification. He will not oppose whatever recommendations come before him, not just in this instance but for any other group of appointments. If he did, politically, he would be dead in the water. The system is flawed. Unfortunately, we are where we are. There is nothing any of us can do about it. At the same time, we feel it was important to make the argument.