Colin Coyle in today’s Sunday Times reports on the appointment by Minister John Gormley of two former Green Party Councillors to the board of the Private Residential Tenancies Board where they can earn up to €25,000 per year in fees and expenses.
Indeed one of the former councillors was one of a few electoral successes for the party in the last local elections – in terms of holding onto a seat. But Vincent Martin has surprisingly quit his town council seat in November. (You may remember my interview with Vincent at the Green Party Convention in October)
This lark of appointing former Green Party councillors to State boards would of course not be news to readers of Maman Poulet.
Before Christmas I published the list of new appointments to the boards of the National Disability Authority. Caroline Burrell a Green Party Former Bray Town Councillor was appointed to the board.
Maybe it’s of use when observing any other appointments to state boards in the coming months to see the list of other former councillors and have it available for reference.
Former County Councillors Not Elected
Terence Corish, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Dundrum);
Joe Corr, Fingal County Council (Balbriggan);
Dorothy Corrigan, South Dublin County Council (Clondalkin);
Gene Feighery, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Dún Laoghaire);
David Healy, Fingal County Council (Howth-Malahide);
Ruairi Holohan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Blackrock);
Tom Kelly, Meath County Council (Slane);
Robbie Kelly, Fingal County Council (Howth-Malahide);
Tom Kivlehan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Ballybrack);
Vincent P Martin, Monaghan County Council (Carrickmacross);
Tony McDermott, Dublin City Council (Crumlin-Kimmage);
Ciaran O’Brien, Wicklow County Council (Bray);
Niall O Brolchain, Galway City Council (Galway City West); [Now a Senator]
JJ Power, Kildare County Council (Naas);
Alan Price, Carlow County Council (Borris);
Former Town Cllrs Not Relected
Caroline Burrell, Bray;
Dominick Donnelly, Passage West;
Frank Gallagher, Letterkenny;
Stephen Kilgallon, Balbriggan
Steve Matthews, Bray;
JJ Power, Naas
Of course this lark is not only something that the Green Party play at before the Young Greens come commenting. But it’s not supposed to be in the party of ‘no brown envelopes and jobs for the boys/girls’ playbook?
I wouldn’t be a huge fan of the practice, to be honest, but I can see the rationale behind it. There are two things about this which don’t really cause me concern, neither of which revolve around the idea that everyone else is doing it.
Firstly, a huge part of a minister’s impact on a state is the kind of person they can appoint to the various state boards. It stands to reason that a good minister wants to appoint someone who shares their political viewpoints (broadly speaking) to a state board. That person’s competence and relevant skillset comes first, of course, but, put simply, politics matters. Green councillors have been appointed (amongst many, many more appointees, incidentally, most of whom are not even members) most likely because (a) they have relevant experience in working on committees and state bodies (most councillors do), and (b) they would broadly hold similar views to the party and/or minister.
That said, such a system is open to abuse, when ministers appoint friends and even family to state bodies, for reasons utterly irrelevant to their political views and skills. If you can show a Green appointment that’s evidence of that, then I think you’ve got a big story.
The second reason that I’m not concerned (aside from a trust of the two relevant ministers, one which, I know, you may not share) is that the Greens recognise the problems with this approach. Indeed, in legislation we’ve put forward dealing with state bodies, this system has been reformed. Eamon Ryan’s 2009 Broadcasting Act, for example, changed the system of appointment so that the minister lost direct power of appointment, with that power going to the relevant Oireachtas committee. Still not a perfect system, but better than the present one, and certainly more transparent.
Even more than that, the new Programme for Government is quite specific on this area of reform. This is from page 33:
“We will introduce on a legislative basis a more open and transparent system for
appointments to public bodies. The legislation will outline a procedure for the
publication of all vacancies likely to occur, invite applications from the general
public and from the responses, create a panel of suitable persons for consideration
of appointment. The legislation will also specify numbers of persons to be
appointed by a Minister and will facilitate the appropriate Oireachtas Committees
to make nominations to the panel.”
Anyway, sorry for going on quite so much. I think the best think one can do in the system as it stands (prior to its reform) is to maximise one’s political impact in government (by appointing smart, competent, Green-minded people to state boards), and make sure that such appointments are based solely on views and abilities held. I don’t think that Green ministers have done anything other than that. If they have, I’d love to hear about it.
Oh, and if it isn’t obvious, I should probably mention that I’m a member of the Greens myself.
Maybe it’s of use when observing any other appointments to state boards in the coming months to see the list of other former councillors and have it available for reference.
Former County Councillors Not Elected
…
Ruairi Holohan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Blackrock);
Seeing as the bould Ruari openly admitted* attempting to rig the recent Green Party convention, maybe his special talents will find a place on Gormley’s new Independent Electoral Commission?
(* on the Last Word with Matt Cooper)
Prop Joe – When was that?
Pidge thanks for your comment – I’m travelling today and will reply tonight – there’s important points there worth exploring further!
I doubt we’ll see Frank Gallagher appointed anywhere. As I understand it he’s declared independence and gone off to set up a rival government-free Green party.
So, Pidge, you don’t have a problem with unknown Green party members double-jobbing? Are so super that they can hold two appointments? Again, Fianna Glas is all the same old cac, time for ‘em to go.
Never did ask what Caroline Burrell’s experience is on disability matters when I read of her appointment last week. I know there are several members of the Green Party who have excellent record on issues pertaining to disability (including shock horror being disabled themselves) – maybe they didn’t lose council seats though! I’m also wondering why working for or founding a service provider in receipt of state aid means that you are deemed qualified to advise the state on disability matters – surely the majority of the people on the NDA board should be disabled and have experience in using services. I’d include people with intellectual and mental health disabilities here.
Gormley appoints 2 failed Green candidates to 25k State boards: Sunday Times - Page 9 - Politics.ie // Jan 3, 2010 at 17:26
[...] Nice to see that the Greens even manage to influence FF Ministers to appoint ex-Green councillors like Caroline Burrell to state boards; Maman Poulet Green Party State Board Appointees [...]
Prop Joe – When was that?
Thursday October 8th 2009, first hour of the podcast at about 56 minutes in.
If you’re interested in hearing the interview, and don’t still have it in your iTunes library and/or can’t find the MP3 on-line, I’ll mail it to you (its the guts of 14 megs, mind).
And not forgetting an Foras Organach; http://www.agriculture.ie/press/pressreleases/2009/august/title,34370,en.html
It does make sense to have some Greenies on an organic food board of course. The quibble I’d have is that Trevor has missed the Government 40% gender balance target for State Boards by 24%. With the exception of Caroline Burrell (raising profile prior to departure of Senator de Burca?), it does seem that the Greens are falling into the jobs for the boys (mostly) habit.
Digest – Jan 3 2010 – The Story // Jan 3, 2010 at 20:55
[...] Suzy on the Green Party state board appointees. [...]
DeeB I’m looking at the state boards and the gender balance at the moment – putting together a random list to examine after the farce of the NAMA board announcement. Suggestions are welcome!
David Healy was reported to be working as advisor for Gormely and his department last year, if thats still the case its worth noting, maybe others are being looked after that way too.
SeanR – So, Pidge, you don’t have a problem with unknown Green party members double-jobbing? Are so super that they can hold two appointments?
Sorry Sean, you seem to be a bit confused on this matter. They’re not full time posts – they don’t meet that often. If I recall correctly, the basic payment is usually around five or six thousand euro per annum. The problems associated with double-jobbing don’t really apply here, since they don’t even approach being full time jobs.
Prop Joe. Can you post a link to that broadcast?
I don’t know if it’s still online, Pratie9.
In it, he claimed to have signed up a few hundred members, who would vote for or against a Programme for Government, purely on the basis of its contents regarding animal rights.
Not sure if it was true or not, and I’ve no idea why he decided to say it on radio. Either way, didn’t come across well.
I knew it rang a bell! I blogged it and have the audio!
http://www.mamanpoulet.com/white-carbonless-smoke/
Thanks Pidge and MP. Wil listen.
Suzie,
As Pidge pointed out, whether it was sloppy, or agenda-driven, the Sunday Times piece missed an important angle in its reporting – the reforms that will be introduced under the new Programme for Government. (They also over-estimated the likely expenses for PRTB members by about 300%, but I guess trivia like accurate figures should never stand in the way of a sensational headline.)
As somebody pointed out over on p.ie (in a failed attempt to shame us), the Green Party has long pushed for reform of the appointments system and, in opposition, used its private members time to push this agenda. Far from being embarrassed about this, since entering Government we have moved this agenda forward, initially on a pro-active base within our departments (the Oireachtas Committee before Christmas nominated members to the board of the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland); and more recently and systemically while negotiating the Renewed Programme for Government in October – as Pidge said. We didn’t have the leverage to achieve these reforms in 2007, but we did last year and we went for it.
It does little to achieve the overall aims of reform to point out that this is a system we inherited pretty much unchanged over the lifetime of several governments including the members of the opposition now abhorred by it, but hopefully it means we can count on their unwavering support when we bring in the necessary legislation.
And as for it not being in “the ‘no brown envelopes and jobs for the boys/girls’ playbook,” – we have appointed the best people to positions on the board of public bodies irrespective of their political background* and while working to reform the system and make it fully open and transparent.
Would it be more morally pure if we left it to Fianna Fail to make all of the appointments? What exactly would that achieve?
* Have a look at some of the appointments to the DDDA, SEI and Anglo Irish.
@steve white John Gormley appointed David Healy as one of his full time political advisers when he became a minister in 2007. David has been an environmental campaigner for decades, involved with Friends of the Irish Environment, Feasta and Comhar, and has expertise in environmental law. He’s hardly lacking in qualifications for the job.
i didn’t question his qualifications
@Damian Were John Gormley whiter than white, then every position, he had power to appoint, would have been done by an Oireachtas Committee or at least some other transparent process, as he pushed for the reforms he wanted back in 2006
http://www.danboyle.ie/index.php?pageID=1305
And how do you explain Dessie Larkin?
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/humiliation-for-gormley-over-posts-1494980.html
Elizabeth Davidson http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6982430.ece check!
Terence corish | Lentablog // Feb 29, 2012 at 17:34
[...] Green Party State Board AppointeesJan 3, 2010 … Terence Corish, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (Dundrum); Joe Corr, Fingal County Council (Balbriggan); Dorothy Corrigan, South Dublin County … [...]