Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The point is that the Minister is removing a requirement to check with the Oireachtas before increasing the board numbers. That is a poor decision and it decreases accountability to the Oireachtas. That is just factual.

I have not suggested the panel system is perfect. I suggested it was designed in a very good way but the issue with it is that bodies that should not have been eligible within the system were allowed, even though they were no longer incorporated, to continue to nominate two members to the current board. I want to be clear that this is my issue with the panel system. I will come back to it in later amendments. The panel system was designed in a well-meaning way, as I said. I have not had enough time to examine the proposed new system and there has not been enough scrutiny of it for me to be equally confident it is likewise well-meaning.