Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, members of the Fine Gael Party want me anywhere but here. I take that as a compliment and am pleased to do so.

The selection of someone to chair a body of the kind we are discussing is either left to the body or it is an ex officioappointment, but this is not an ex officioappointment. Rather, it is an appointment based on the proposition that there is one type of person who cannot become chairman of the commission, namely, a person who has practised as a lawyer or has ever held judicial office.

I ask the Minister to reconsider the amendment in the following context. Supposing somebody practised as a barrister or solicitor for five years and was intelligent and motivated enough to apply for a position as a professor at a university. If such a person had spent 12 years as a professor at a university and three years practising as a barrister beforehand, is there any reason whatever why he or she should be excluded from serving on the commission as a lay person?