Appointments to State boards should be approved by a public appointments body, writes Jim O'Keeffe.
How do you get appointed to the board of RTÉ, the IDA or Bord na Móna? What qualifications do you need to serve on any of the 500-plus public bodies in the State? Judging by recent appointments, membership of Fianna Fáil or a close association with the party is a huge advantage.
The Government is set to appoint more than 300 people to public boards between now and December. The outgoing FF/PD government already appointed more than 400 people to public bodies between April and May alone. None of these positions was open to any form of public scrutiny, let alone ratification by the Dáil. These appointments were made amid a culture of secrecy and with little or no explanation.
I believe that key appointments to public bodies should be considered by the Dáil before they are ratified. This is already the case in a number of other EU countries, while the US has a rigorous system in place whereby appointments can actually be vetoed if they cannot be justified. Yet in Ireland, most appointments to public bodies are made solely at the discretion of the relevant cabinet minister.
Over the last 20 years, most of these appointments have been made by Fianna Fáil ministers because they have been in power for most of that time.
Clearly many of those involved are public-spirited individuals with relevant expertise. The fact that they have political association with Fianna Fáil does not necessarily reflect on their abilities. However, many appear to have no qualification, other than their closeness to the Fianna Fáil party.
This largely secret appointments system exists against a background where the activities of public bodies are generally unaccountable. Many of these bodies have significant public functions and control huge public assets and budgets.
We must urgently consider whether these public appointments should continue to be made solely by the government without any transparency. This cycle of cronyism favours the governing elite disproportionately, no matter who is in power. Because Fianna Fáil is the largest party and has been in power for so many of the last 20 years, there is a danger that this one party will come to be regarded as a fast-track route to public promotion. There is a similarity here with the former Soviet Union, where membership of the Communist Party was essential for advancement within the state. That system continued until it imploded under the weight of its own inefficiencies.
Under Fianna Fáil, government has become increasingly less accountable to the Dáil and to voters. There is a growing trend for ministers to wash their hands of responsibility. At the same time, many important issues have been outsourced to other bodies like the HSE, and it is now almost impossible for TDs to obtain information from ministers about the health service, or major road projects. These restrictions and limitations have been reinforced by Fianna Fáil's crippling of the Freedom of Information Act, in spite of strong protests from the Information Commissioner.
Against this background of secrecy and cover-up, it is essential that public appointments be opened up to scrutiny, or at least the most important positions. The United States uses the "advise and consent" approach to scrutinise presidential appointments, and can veto them in the public interest. The new British prime minister, Gordon Brown, has announced plans to open up key appointments to parliamentary scrutiny with confirmation hearings.
I don't believe the Dáil should have the power to veto appointments at will, but I do believe the Dáil should be empowered to conduct hearings into appointments to the most important positions. These would determine the suitability of applicants, and would also deter those whose sole qualification is affiliation with a particular political party.
This approach would also allow issues of genuine public concern to be examined. For example, recent allegations concerning the Dublin Port Company, and a secret deal between Independent TD Finian McGrath and the new Government, cannot be examined by the Dáil in the context of recent appointments to the Port Company board.
As things stand, there is no way to turn the public searchlight on most of the activities of any of our public bodies.
Ironically, the Green Party put forward a far-reaching Bill seeking "an independent merit-based appointments system". Now that the Greens are a component of the Government they appear to have swallowed any concerns over the current appointments system.
However, Fine Gael will continue to closely scrutinise all appointments to public boards.
Fianna Fáil clearly believes it has a natural right to control all the levers of power. But the main Government party might appreciate that the possibilities for abuse are now so great that the national interest must be considered.
My proposals for Dáil scrutiny of key public appointments are modest compared to what exists elsewhere. If the current Government refuses to accept them, it would be timely to instigate a broader examination of how closely Fianna Fáil has become entwined with the State apparatus.
Jim O'Keeffe TD is Fine Gael spokesman on justice