Paul Bradford (Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment briefly on what Senator Barrett has said. He has issued a note of warning and given an example of experience from which we can learn. I appreciate what is being proposed and understand the necessity for it because people who have a degree of expertise can bring it to the new authority. I presume the Minister is expecting that a sizeable number of the authority's staff will be new to the space and will come from outside the fold. We are not prescribing here that the new authority will be made up entirely of staff from within the current confines. We are simply allowing that such staff may be taken on board. However, we must send the message forth that the spirit of the changes proposed in this legislation must result in the majority of the staff coming from outside the current confines. Is that something we could try to prescribe on Report Stage? We are prescribing who may make up the quorum of a meeting. Could we also prescribe that the initial staff complement would include at least a majority of people who did not previously work for the other agencies? While we are not putting a bar on staff from the Law Society of Ireland or the Bar Council applying for posts, for which some of them will be eminently qualified, we should try to ensure a majority of the staff at the new authority would be new. Can the Minister see some way of providing for that? Perhaps section 23 would be the most appropriate place in this regard. We must ensure, either in section 23 or section 24, that the authority will present a very fresh face and provide for a majority of new staff.