Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have not objected to the appointment of additional members. I have talked about the process by which additional members are appointed and I have objected to the imbalance in that the Minister appoints all of them, which is contrary to the spirit of section 30. I have asked for a very simple check and balance such that the Public Appointments Service be involved in identifying new members when they are needed.

I have also asked for an appropriate check and balance whereby when the Minister seeks to appoint new members, the matter will be brought to the Oireachtas. Senator Cummins said the Minister is accountable to the Oireachtas. Yes, that should be the case, but we are not seeing brilliant examples of it in this process whereby we do not even have a proper Report Stage debate on the Bill. The opportunity for us to scrutinise this legislation fully is part of the accountability the Minister should have to the Oireachtas. That has been largely disregarded and truncated in the way this Bill has been put through the House.