FG Bill aims to end 'cronyism culture'

A FINE Gael Bill to prevent “the culture of cronyism” in the appointment of individuals to State agencies was introduced in the Dáil last night but rejected by the Government.

Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said Ministers “hold in their hands the power to appoint 6,000 people to State board positions”.

His Public Accounts Transparency Bill calls for the qualifications of all nominees to State boards with budgets of more than €1 million to be published and for all nominees for chairman of State boards or as chief executive to appear before the relevant Oireachtas committee for scrutiny.

Mr Varadkar had no problem with the appointment of political party members.

“People should be rewarded for participating in the political process and it would be wrong to place a cordon sanitaire around them to exclude them.”

He said appointees had to be qualified and “political affiliation in itself should not be considered to be a qualification”.

However, he said, all 6,000 appointments were made in secret without any involvement of the Oireachtas. Some bodies like the HSE (Health Service Executive) and Fás “control budgets worth billions of euros”.

Minister of State for Finance Martin Mansergh said however that there were a number of concerns with the Bill.

He said it involved the Oireachtas taking executive functions on to itself in vetting and confirming boards and cut across the normal corporate governance arrangements for boards to appoint chief executive officers.

Ministers normally nominated appointees and “can be held accountable to the Oireachtas”. “Ministerial freedom is not unfettered,” he stressed, and cross-party appointments were also made.

Mr Mansergh’s constituency colleague Mattie McGrath (FF, Tipperary South) said the Bill should be given careful consideration.

He referred to the National Roads Authority and the HSE and “countless others” which deputies questioned and “we do not get an answer or a proper answer”.