Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister's bona fides on this, but the comparison he made with local authority members and the situation that existed prior to that in relation to training cannot be made. We are talking about only 17 members. The type of training one member would need would be completely different from what another member would need. Having training courses that everybody would attend would not have the desired outcome. If members of this 17-person commission want to get a certain type of training they should be free to do so, and the expense or part of the expense should be reimbursed. It would not be open to the abuse that other systems have been in the past. I urge the Minister to accept Senator Higgins's amendment in this regard because it is a very good one. It is only if these individualised considerations are taken into account that we will have a good commission at the end of this.