On section 3 may I say at the outset — and I am sure the Minister agrees with me — that the sooner this Bill is on the Statute Book the better and the long gestation period this Bill has had was used to good effect. Certainly, I share the frustration of very many people because the legislation did not get through, but the time which intervened has been used very constructively. There has been a pretty genuine national debate. Most of the points about which I was uneasy have been taken on board. Section 3 is a very good example of this. The one great flaw in the original proposals of the Minister concerned the composition of the board and the sense that the board would ultimately be responsible for deciding on the licence, and so on.
The Minister assured the Dáil — and has written into the legislation — that the members have been drawn from specific areas of expertise. The Minister goes a bit further than I would ask for in this specification. What is crucial is that the country will have a very well balanced, sensible, informed and genuinely independent Commission. It is right that the Minister of the day should nominate the members of that board.
I also believe because a person is a member of a political party, or is a known supporter of a political party, that person should not be disqualified from membership of the Commission. There is a great obligation on all of us to try to attract into public life people of the highest possible calibre. I do not believe that, because a person is a member of a political party, that person's judgment or integrity is thereby impigned. It is very much to the contrary. It is strange that, if we are inviting people into politics, we make it impossible for them to serve on boards of this sort, or immediately the only tag by which they are referred to is that they are a member of a political party. We have many examples of very good people in politics — Mr. Frank Flannery on the RTE Authority, Mr. Paul Kavanagh on a number of boards — people whose political colours are well known, but who have been exellent public servants as far as membership of commissions are concerned.
If the Minister appoints one or two people with strong political views, so long as their competence and integrity is not in question, there will be no complaints from me. I do not believe that political abstention is a virtue in itself. Quality is all important for this Commission. I do not know the politics of Mr. Jim Culliton, Chairman of the RTE Authority, but I know he has credibility with the public and a sense of achievement which lends credibility to the very stature of the RTE Authority. I hope that the Minister, in appointing the Commission, will be going in for people of this calibre. Quality is important.
I also agree with the points the Minister made in the Dáil when he said he hoped this new Commission will not become bureaucratic, and that it will be a small, lean institution which will be able to do its job effectively without becoming a burden on the new service. In section 3 the Minister is being sensible. There is the framework here for a very, very good Commission. All that is needed is the judgment of the Minister in making the appointments.