Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It certainly does not debar anybody. The provision the Minister mentions about debarring laypeople from participating in decisions on appointments themselves is not an issue here. We are dealing with a sub-committee of the commission, which carries out the drafting of proposed statements, which in the last analysis, have to either be rejected, accepted or modified by the entire board. We are dealing with a slightly different animal here.

There is an awful lot to be said for the proposition that when it comes to drafting statements about the technical expertise of appointees, the people who know what they are talking about should be given a majority role in the drafting and it should then be left to the commission as a whole to say whether it agrees or disagrees with the criteria laid down by the people who have expertise in the area. There is no question whatsoever of silencing, exiling or sidelining laypeople because of the provisions in section 54. It is merely recognising, as they have done in Scotland, that it is slightly absurd to ask laypeople to participate in the drafting of technical criteria where they have no expertise in same.