Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not get the point of amendment No. 60, in particular. The Bill clearly proposes that the chief executive will be appointed by the board following the usual process that will come through the Public Appointments Service. If we inserted that amendment, it would exclude anyone who, in the preceding three years, had been directly employed by the Government or a Minister thereof. Therefore, any public or civil servant who had been employed by the Government would be excluded from applying for the role, while anybody who may have been employed by the Government under a contract of or for services to head up a task force would likewise be excluded therefrom. I get Senator Higgins's point about somebody who may or may not have had political connections, but that should not exclude him or her from applying for a particular role. The amendment would exclude anybody who works as a civil or public servant because they are all employed by the Government, and it is unfair to try to insert something like that.

Moreover, given the appointment is going to be made through the Public Appointments Service, if somebody goes through that process and it is determined on the basis of merit that he or she is the best candidate for the job, whether he or she has done work in the past for a Minister should not matter. Over the course of the pandemic, we have seen that a number of individuals have been employed in specific roles by the Government. Under this amendment, they would be excluded from appointment as chief executive having gone through a process. This is not a case of the Minister deciding he or she likes so-and-so and deciding that person will be the chief executive. There will have to be a specific process.

With regard to amendment No. 61, we have provisions in place for dealing with conflicts of interest, but under this amendment, if somebody who is chief executive were suddenly to inherit shares to the value of in excess of €30,000, that would exclude him or her from this role. We cannot try continuously to exclude groups of people from applying for particular jobs. Senator Higgins should read the process outlined within the legislation. It goes through the Public Appointments Service and the chief executive will then be appointed by the board with the approval of the Minister. This is not a ministerial appointment in the classic sense. The amendment is not acceptable.