Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 16, line 18, to delete “local authority chief executive” and substitute the following:“Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on the advice of bodies representing trade, commerce and tourism, and local government”.

This section currently refers to the chairperson and directors, of which there are eight, of the transferred company. It states that "[t]he directors of a transferred company [...], other than the chief executive, shall be appointed by the local authority chief executive." My concern is that this makes the county manager master of all he surveys. It is an incredible amount of power to reside in one pair of hands. I have proposed that we delete "the local authority chief executive" and insert a reference to the Minister who is before us, as per the text of the amendment. Too much power resides in the county manager. The Minister is elected. He is a great democrat and is in touch with more views.Some county managers are very autocratic and to give them the power to put eight people on a board with nobody else there has me worried. I would prefer the Minister to discharge that responsibility.