I beg to move that the Dáil assent to the nomination of Deputy Patrick McGilligan as Minister for Industry and Commerce, and a member of the Executive Council.
PRIVATE BILL. - MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.
Will the President tell us what are the qualifications of Deputy McGilligan for this position?
did not reply.
As the President has not answered that question, may I ask a further question: Does he consider that special qualifications are necessary for a position of this importance?
Do I reply now, or is there to be any further debate on it?
I think the President had better wait to conclude the debate, if there is to be any debate.
I should like to give my assent to the nomination by the President of Deputy P. McGilligan for this post of Minister for Industry and Commerce and Member of the Executive Council. I have been stating, in connection with another matter, that the combination of three qualities in the man appealed to me very strongly, and that is, a combination of commonsense, honesty, and modesty. I am told, and I believe, that the Minister nominated by the President has this combination in full quality. I have heard several Deputies ask the question that Deputy Good has put, namely, what qualifications Deputy McGilligan has for the position. Now the responsibility, I take it, rests with the President in making nominations, and I think, so long as the gentleman nominated is one who has a good character and ability, I think the responsibility ceases and that we, as Deputies of the Dáil, should give our assent to this. I might say in this connection that no Minister who has gone into that position had his business at his fingers' end when he went into office first. The President himself has got the thread of three Ministries into his hands. The Minister for Home Affairs has had no training in the position in which he has been such a superlative success, and the Minister for Finance has grappled not only with Local Government but also with intriguing matters of finance, and I think if Deputy McGilligan possesses the ability and has the confidence of the Dáil that he is a gentleman of the highest character, then I think we may take it that he will be quite capable of carrying out the duties imposed upon him. I should like, in an aside, to congratulate the President on the wisdom he has shown in selecting another gentleman with a Northern birthright.
Not Cork this time.
We are keeping away from Cork this time. The President has already two Ministers from Antrim, and now Derry cannot be jealous as the President has nominated a native of that county. As a matter of fact, in the six members of the Executive Council the balance will be fairly equal now, three from the North and three from the South, and I think Cork is left out of it altogether.
Shame.
I take it that the idea of submitting the names of persons nominated by the President to act as Ministers and members of the Executive Council for the assent of the Dáil is not to ask the Dáil to approve formally of their qualifications for the office, but rather to give the Dáil an opportunity of saying whether there is any positive reason against such acceptance—reason, say, of character or otherwise. If we are asked to give our formal and considered approval then we should require to canvass the capabilities of the Deputy brought forward, and we would be taking responsibility for the choice of the Executive. I do not think that that is the intention of the Constitution. I do not think it is a practice that we ought to adopt in regard to the Executive Council, and when I am asked to give my assent to the nomination of Deputy McGilligan as Minister for Industry and Commerce, I am not asked to say that I believe he is a fit and proper person for that position, but I am given an opportunity to say to the Dáil if I know anything derogatory to his character or his fitness which the President may not know. We are not relieving the President of his responsibility in his choice; we are merely assenting to allow him to go his own way in this matter.
I suppose it is not my duty at present to deal with any expression of political heresies that might possibly be pronounced in the Dáil. In that connection, I might say that while members of the Dáil may, perhaps, relieve themselves of responsibility in connection with any nomination that I might make, or that any persons coming after me might make, as the Constitution stands the nomination of a person here, for which the assent of the Dáil is given, is certainly a privilege and a right which ought not to be written down or discounted in any way whatever. It is open to any Party, or to any member of any Party to say, in this connection, that the responsibility is the responsibility of particular persons. Nevertheless, it would, in my opinion, be rather unwise to stress that to an unreasonable extent. It is the right of the Dáil, and not the right of any person outside the Dáil, to assent to the nomination of any member of the Executive Council who would be put before it. To that extent it would be necessary for me to enter a caveat, and I do so. The statement made by Deputy Good, and the very able statement of Deputy Craig leave very little for me to add. Deputy Craig has, perhaps, mentioned in the three attributes that he referred to, one which is, in my opinion, one of the most important attributes that any person could have in a representative capacity, and that is common sense.
I do say, in connection with these appointments, that some little consideration should be given to the circumstances of the time, and to the need for very careful study on the part of any person who is appointed a member of the Executive Council, to the undue strain-that has fallen on members of the Executive Council and on Ministers generally during the last couple of years, and which, as far as can be seen, is likely to continue for a very long time. In that connection I might say that I have had no reason whatever to find any fault, or suggestion of a fault, on the part of either of the two members who have left the Executive Council. This particular appointment is one which is scarcely open to the ordinary business man to take up. It is a whole-time appointment, whole-time in more senses than one, and no matter what business one is engaged at, I do not know that one would have even sufficient time to take up one's income tax account if one were to discharge the duties of this particular office with any degree of satisfacton to the person holding it, or to the satisfaction of the Parties comprised in this House. I put forward this nomination of Deputy McGilligan, who has all the qualifications necessary for this office, and I ask the benediction of the House on his appointment.
Question put and agreed to.