Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The answer to the Senator's first question is, "Yes". The second most senior person will take on that position. Obviously, we make no reference to voting and it is "take no part in the performance by the Commission". The performance of the commission is not only to vote but also to discuss the recommendations and the names at hand. That is why the Attorney General would be included.

Essentially, this section is around recusal and making sure of that where a conversation takes place. I suppose it would be a decision of the commission to decide what meetings it was having and what positions it was filling. It is not likely to happen too often in all of the various different meetings that the commission will have. If there is a particular meeting happening, I am sure that the commission would be able to figure out how to hold a meeting, either to adjourn it and then to reconvene the same meeting or to have two separate meetings if there were different positions being put forward at the same time or different positions going forward to Cabinet or being requested at the same time. That is a decision that can be taken by the commission. It is something that could probably be resolved quickly.

This section is around making sure that if a person who will be on the commission is applying for a job, he or she is not in the room talking about it and discussing it at the same time for obvious reasons.