Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I cannot believe we are still going down this route. What if we were to legislate to allow a person to serve only once in their life as a Minister? How would that sit with us? It would not sit too well. We are talking about people here. Look at the officials who support the Oireachtas. They work here all the hours God gives. They are here for as long as we are here, they are available to provide advice any time we need it and they are here to keep the system on the rails. How dare anyone suggest that we should set a term for which they can serve?

For as long as the State has existed people have been appointed to senior Civil Service posts and have retained those posts until they retired. There is no reason for this in the legislation, other than to have some type of hold over the holder of what should be an independent office. That is the only possible reason I can see for section 3. I ask the Minister to reflect on it. It is clear from what the Leader said that he is not very happy about it. One often hears people say they have full confidence in football managers just before they fire them. Are we going to hear someone say a few years hence that they have full confidence in the Clerk of the Dáil or the Clerk of the Seanad before they end their term of office? It is repugnant to the post to have a time limit set on it.