Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There must be such an acknowledgement first because it is only honest - under the Constitution it cannot be otherwise - and, second, because it will strip away the false impression that has been created by the champion of this legislation, the Minister, Deputy Ross, that he is somehow taking these decisions away from elected politicians and handing them to an expert commission. He cannot do so constitutionally, but he can support legislation that makes it look as if that is what is going on. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Flanagan's, announcement that he proposes to make it clear, in a general way by means of an omnibus amendment of some kind, that nothing in the Act as a whole attempts or purports to trespass on that overall discretion of the Government.

Once that is understood, a number of things follow from it. Why are we establishing this expensive quango instead of an advisory board? Why are we providing for full-time directors and for buildings for it to inhabit? Why are we providing a budget of between €500,000 and €1 million per annum for this process when the 45 appointments to which Senator Boyhan referred stand out, in my respectful opinion, as clear proof that it is entirely possible to make appointments on merit without any hint of cronyism and for the Government to discharge its constitutional function without any of the expensive elaborate apparatus we are being asked to put in place? The Minister has estimated on previous occasions that if ever this Bill is enacted it could be another 18 months to two years before it would have any effect. When something is not broken, why on earth would one set out to mend it?

The information Senator Boyhan obtained from the Courts Service is stark in its content. It shows that, first, the Minister, Deputy Ross, has been a member of a Government that has made very good appointments-----