Mary Harney
Question:12 Miss Harney asked the Taoiseach when he intends to fill the two vacancies among the Taoiseach's nominees to the Seanad. [681/94]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Seanad Nominees.
These vacancies will be filled in due course and an announcement made in the normal way.
Whatever about the Taoiseach's reply to the first seven questions, I do not know what the Minister of State, Deputy Dempsey, has to say about his answer to this one. How long have these vacancies existed?
One of them has been vacant since October and the other since Senator Hillery took up a position with the Bank for Construction and Redevelopment earlier in the summer.
That is a long time.
We will try to fill them during Question Time.
I assume they will not be filled before the by-elections. The appointment of Senator Gordon Wilson as one of the Taoiseach's 11 nominees to the Seanad was imaginative. In the context of the peace process, will he consider giving one of the appointments to a person from Northern Ireland who represents the non-Nationalist tradition on this island?
Nominate Gerry Adams.
I regard one of my previous nominees to the Seanad as representing the non-Nationalist viewpoint in the North, in fact already representing an honest to goodness, pragmatic viewpoint in the North.
Hear, hear.