Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am agreeing with Senator Conway in making that unruly interjection. The Minister does have an outstanding record. The national interest would be served by amending the Bill to give the Houses of the Oireachtas a veto in deciding whether the legislation should ever be commenced.

My final comment is that I fully acknowledge that in most cases commencement orders are made by way of a statutory instrument which is either not subject to parliamentary review or a vote in both Houses of the Oireachtas, at the very least, to negative it. It would be unusual to provide for a commencement order that would require positive affirmation by the Houses of the Oireachtas.If this Bill came into operation, it would require positive decisions by the Oireachtas, even for the appointment of lay members of the commission. The Oireachtas will have an opportunity to approve or disapprove the members of the commission. I am making a heartfelt plea to the Minister to give the Houses of the Oireachtas a second chance to affirm his splendid personal record in making high-quality appointments based on merit, with a balance of genders, backgrounds and all the rest. He has improved our Judiciary substantially during his period as Minister. I ask the Minister to give the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas the opportunity to reconsider whether to continue with the present system rather than wasting an awful lot of money establishing this quango. It will bring no improvement but will require a considerable amount of public expenditure which could be used on things such as home help hours, instead of creating the illusion of apolitical appointments which are neither constitutional nor realistic.