The Minister made a number of appointments to the board of Bord na Móna last week. It is widely recognised that at least two of those appointments were influenced by the political affiliations of the individuals involved.

In addition, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, recently appointed a long-serving Fine Gael activist to the board of NAMA. Even the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, got in on the act when he appointed a failed Labour Party councillor to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. In yet another betrayal of the electorate, both Fine Gael and Labour Party Ministers are blatantly and unashamedly engaging in acts of cronyism by way of their appointments to State boards.

When this Government took office, we were promised a new way of doing politics that would be open, transparent and accountable. In fact, we were promised no less than a democratic revolution. In reality, what we are seeing with these appointments, none of which was done through the Public Appointments Service, is the same old tired politics of this Administration's predecessors. This is true not only in the area of appointments to State boards but also in the way Ministers have favoured funding for their own constituencies and how the establishment of the banking inquiry was handled, with the Government making sure it had a majority. All of this goes to show that nothing has changed since the previous Government.

The strategy is more finessed.

That is true. When will the Government cease flouting its own rules on filling publicly funded appointments to State boards by adhering to the public appointments system?

This Government, for the first time in the history of the State, has created an expressions of interest facility to invite people in the public domain who consider themselves to be suitably qualified to apply for appointment to a particular State board. Many people have done so and have been subsequently appointed. The proposition from Deputy O'Brien that somebody ought to be automatically disqualified because he or she may have some political allegiance is a proposition I utterly reject. I would have expected the Deputy to reject it too given that in the short time his party has been in government in Northern Ireland, it nominated Lynn Boylan as chair of safefood.

Deputy O'Brien might wish now to move on to the next question.

In my constituency, Ms Boylan campaigned in the European Parliament election on the basis of that chairmanship being her contribution to the public interest.

Will Deputy O'Brien be calling for her resignation?

I am surprised that Deputy O'Brien is taking this position. I have been very happy to make appointments to the range of State companies and agencies under my aegis. The persons occupying those positions are outstandingly suited and I have reappointed a number of people not of my political persuasion. Having had the privilege of dealing with them for three years, I reappointed the chairs of several major companies, including the ESB, Sustainable Energy Ireland and Bord Gáis Éireann, because I saw they had acquired experience and were best suited to continue to oversee the work of those commercial bodies.

I do not accept the Deputy's point about the banking inquiry. The proposed membership comprised a Government majority of 5:4 because that reflects the position in this House. I am damned if I can understand how 5:4 differs from 6:5; the latter is still a Government majority. I do know that this controversy provided an opportunity for an attention-seeking Deputy to duck out when he saw the quantum of work that would have to be done and that it would divert him from his extracurricular duties.

That is an outrageous statement.

I am glad, however, to see Deputy Joe Higgins replacing him. The least one can say about Deputy Higgins is that he is not afraid of a bit of work.

The arrogance and sense of self-importance evident in the Minister's reply are indicative of everything that is rotten at the heart of this Government. Let us speak about Lynn Boylan.

How was she appointed?

The Minister knows as well as I do, or perhaps he does not know because he does not have much-----

Does the Deputy have a supplementary question? This is Leaders' Questions.

I am asking a supplementary question. The position in regard to appointments to North-South implementation bodies - the Minister knows this well and should stop trying to deflect from the issue of his cronyism - is that appointees are nominated and agreed by all parties mandated to the North-South Ministerial Council, including the Labour Party.

Ms Boylan's appointment was proposed by Sinn Féin.

It is like austerity - okay in the North but not in this State.

Members must allow Deputy O'Brien to put his supplementary question.

The cronyism displayed by this Government in recent weeks in stacking State boards is clear for all to see. Perhaps it is one of the Minister's last acts in Government-----

The Deputy is over time. Will he put a supplementary question?

My supplementary question is the same as my original question, which was not answered. When will this Government adhere to its own policy in regard to appointments to State boards?

What about appointments to state boards in the North?

When will Ministers stop engaging in the Fianna Fáil-style politics of cronyism?

At least Fianna Fáil members do not go around shooting people.

I do not accept that this is the lesson at all. The lesson is that Sinn Féin considers cronyism all right in Northern Ireland but not in the Republic of Ireland.

Hear, hear.

It is a bad day for Sinn Féin's research office.