Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a fundamental difference between ourselves and the Government on this Bill. It is one of the biggest problems we have with the legislation. It is no disrespect to civil servants but some will have been seconded, some may return and for us they are too close to the institutions of Government. Who should be on the board? The answer is qualified professionals from the public service and the private sector. Senator Higgins discussed hand-picking civil servants and appointing them to the board. This amendment operates to avoid that. Civil servants will be returning to the Department after a temporary period of service as a board member where they may have had to decide on matters of interest to such bodies. There is fundamental difference between ourselves and the Government here.