Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

They are separate functions and one of the distinguishing features between them is that a consultant or adviser would be appointed, which has a degree of permanency if one looks at subsection (10). It is for a defined period of time. That is one thing. The other is a contract which could be intermittent and come into existence or come out of existence and be for a week, a day, a year or whatever, as the commission may consider right. There is a distinction between an appointment which carries the subsection (10) implication and simply entering into a contract. The strange thing is, however, that either a contractual person, if I may use that phrase for somebody appointed under subsection (7)(a) or a person appointed as a consultant or adviser, whichever they come to be, can carry out exactly the same functions under subsection (8).