Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Hold on a second, we are making it a legal requirement for this commission to set out the results of an interview, in addition to the reasons it thinks the person is qualified. That is a legal requirement we are imposing on the commission. It is not good enough to say it is the choice of the commission. If there is a statutory interview process which, due to the withdrawal of Senator Ward's amendment, is mandatory if the Bill goes through, surely it must be the case that those words mean something and that the interview had some result. It cannot just be that the interview process ended up with the person on the short-list. If they are on the short list, it would be quite unnecessary to give the Government an indication of the results of the interview process. I think there is more intended by the draftsmen here than simply saying they are on the list and that is all you need know. Under paragraph (a), they are required to say the reasons the person is on the list. Paragraph (c) states, in addition to that, the results of the interview have to be given. It is not satisfactory to simply say that this means nothing.