Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have said on a number of occasions in this House that I have been involved during a period when people were being employed in various posts and I have also made the point that I have some concerns as to the ability of the commission to drive home its three nominees, or one of the nominees. To bring this back to an area I am comfortable with and familiar with, that is, the selection of teachers, "teacher" is a title but there are many different types of teachers. We engage with the staff in the location to find out what vacancies need to be filled in the same way that I would expect the commission to engage with the Executive as to what precisely it was looking for in drafting its terms of reference or its terms for the selection process. I would expect that process to start before the position is advertised and that there would be ongoing engagement with the Minister.

I agree with my colleague that the commission cannot be independent of Government. It is there to advise Government and that is all it is doing - advising the Government. However, it must also take the concerns of Government on board. If we are going to pursue this legislation, the amendment that has been put forward by Senators McDowell and Boyhan and myself makes perfect sense. It clears the air and takes some of the questionable areas out of it.

I have significant difficulty with this Bill in any case. At the end of the day, we can go through all of this process but a very assertive Taoiseach or Minister for Justice and Equality can turn around and say, "That is all grand and dandy but I do not accept any of the three, and we are going to go off and appoint somebody else." Who can stop them? Who can say "No"? We do not know anything about the three people or how they were selected, based on the way the Bill is put together. There has to be engagement all the way through - engagement before the advertisement and engagement after the advertisement, followed by a report that goes to the Executive before the Executive then makes its choice, or not, as the case may be. This amendment gives clarity to that.