Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That was a comprehensive response, and reflects the Minister of State's understanding of and passion for local government. Councillors around the country are full of praise for his work in this area. One issue he did not refer to, however, and I appreciate the time constraints at work, was the general policy concerning the exclusion of councillors from State boards. It is written into nearly all legislation.

A new media commission is being formed in the context of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022, which will be debated this afternoon. We again see an effort there to insert a provision to exclude from consideration for appointment to the board someone who is, or becomes, a member of a local authority. I am not asking for political appointments to boards, but if someone goes through the Public Appointments Service, and all else is equal, then that person should not be excluded from consideration because he or she is a councillor. Many councillors have a great deal of experience in areas other than local government and they should be entitled to be considered for appointment to State boards. This seems, however, to be a cross-Government policy. Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to lead on this issue and to try to prevent this policy from forming part of future legislation.