Le cúpla seachtain anuas, agus ag deireadh an tsamhraidh, bhíomar ag déileáil leis an dóigh atá an Rialtas ag láimhseáil ceapacháin go dtí boird an Stáit. Tráthnóna inniu beidh an Coiste um Airgeadas, Caiteachas Poiblí agus Athchóiriú, agus an Taoiseach; agus an Coiste um Chuntais Phoiblí ag cur tuairisc chun tosaigh ó thaobh na dóighe a rinneadh ceapacháin an Ard-Rúnaí Robert Watt chuig an Roinn Sláinte gan aon phróiseas mar is ceart. Le linn an tsamhraidh, bhíomar ag déileáil leis an dóigh a chuir Fine Gael an t-iarAire Katherine Zappone isteach ar bhord an Stáit fosta. Anois, le cúpla seachtain anuas táimid ag caint ar an dóigh a láimhseáil an tAire, an Teachta Eamon Ryan, ceapachán beirte do bhord an Stáit.

Today, the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach; and the Committee of Public Accounts will publish their report into the appointment of Robert Watt as Secretary General at the Department of Health. It is an appointment that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was involved in. There was not any proper process. During the summer, there was the Zapponegate scenario, where Fine Gael was appointing a former Minister into a made-up job paid for from the public purse. A number of weeks ago, the Minister appointed two friends to the Climate Change Advisory Council despite a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Climate Action that there should be an open, competitive and transparent process attached to such appointments. Cronyism is at the heart of how this Government does its business. That is without doubt. We have seen it clearly since the summer.

I know that most people would have expected higher standards from the Green Party but that is not what is coming from it. Once the Minister had the opportunity to dole out jobs for his friends, he was shown to be just as capable as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are at doling out those jobs. I know that the two members appointed are eminently qualified. Their qualifications are not in question. That is not the issue. One of these individuals was a former special adviser to the Minister. The other was a Green Party election candidate. These positions are paid from the public purse, at €10,000 per year, with travel and subsistence claims on top of that. They are paid for by the taxpayer. The taxpayer deserves no less than a transparent, open and accountable process but the Minister let the taxpayers down.

Nothing precludes the Government from making sure that all appointments are transparent and open but it has not happened in this instance. We have sought clarity on this for two weeks. We have asked about the appointment process but nothing has been forthcoming. Why did the Minister pull this stroke? Why did he decide to ignore the Joint Committee on Climate Action? Why did he breach his own guidelines on the appointment process? Why did he believe it was right to appoint a former special adviser and election candidate to this position without any due process?

There is a wider issue with regard to this. The Climate Change Advisory Council has an important role to play. It guides the response to the climate crisis. It is vital that it is independent of the Government and that the advice the Government receives is not predetermined or reflective of ideological persuasions. That is crucial for this council. Independent advice is of no use if the Government is simply getting the advice that it wants to hear on critical issues such as carbon tax, which are hitting ordinary families hard while the Government fails to provide alternatives.

Why did the Minister ignore the Government's own guidelines in appointing these two individuals to this State board? Does he accept that this was just an old-fashioned political stroke?

This council was appointed exactly as is set out in the law. It was appointed in the same way that the previous Climate Change Advisory Council was established. It was appointed after going through all the proper Government procedures, going to the Cabinet, giving advance notice and discussing it with colleagues both within the Department and within the Government. To my mind, this council has that correct mix of skills which not everyone has. They are very specific skills. As the Deputy mentions, these individuals have been recognised by being appointed by previous governments to similar bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. One of the individuals has unique experience in world energy policy and a variety of institutions that brings real expertise to the council. I do not believe this expertise would have been available elsewhere. I know a number of people on that council. If I was to exclude people who I know and have worked with in the past 30 years, it would diminish the skills that we need. We need a balance of different skills.

The Government, the Department and the Minister are best placed, as set out in the legislation, to be able to make that call. If I excluded people on the basis of having worked with me or knowing me in the past, that would not serve the Irish people well. As the Deputy said, the individuals that he mentioned absolutely have the necessary skills. I stand over the process. I believe it was correct and it was followed to the letter of the law. It is a law that was passed by a vast majority in this House, including Deputy Doherty's party, knowing the appointments procedures which we would and did follow. The critical thing now is what this council does and how we work collectively. If Sinn Féin wants to turn climate into a divisive issue, while accusing others of cronyism and so on, I do not think that serves the people in making this leap and incredible change.

The advisory council is well constituted and has done a good job to date. It will serve not just this Government but the next one. I do not believe that it will in any way reflect any partisan or other interests because someone might have worked with me in the past, or because there are 15 people on it from a range of diverse backgrounds. Some of them served on the previous council and I believed it was important to carry over that expertise. Some of them have expertise in just transition and social policy, which I believe it is important to include. Other people, who I have worked with, know the science and were needed. My Department, I as the Minister, and the Government acting collectively, acted correctly and appropriately in how we approached getting that balance and mix of the right people.

I look forward to questions about climate, how the budgets are set, and how we will fund this climate transition. If we do not have a carbon tax, where will we get the €5 billion? I would love to have questions on the substance because that is what people want. They want to know how we will make this leap. I do not think they want it to be turned into a politically divisive issue when the legislation was agreed and the process was followed. Let us sit down and talk about climate and have a real discussion about how we meet this challenge. That is what I would love to have questions about.

The public wants open and transparent government. It wants the old-style politics of sorting out people you know to be finished with. The Minister has seen the public anger at the stroke that Fine Gael pulled in the summer with Katherine Zappone. They do not like it. It should be a thing of the past. We are not calling into question people's qualifications. The Minister might want to talk about something different but he pulled a political stroke. He talked about the legislation. We tabled an amendment to that legislation, stating that the appointments would be through an open, transparent process. It was rejected by the Minister because, he said, he has to abide by the guidelines of the Government, which is the public appointments process. Section 8 of those guidelines applies to all boards, commercial and non-commercial. Will the Minister tell me and the public why he decided to ignore those guidelines and to appoint his special adviser and a Green Party candidate to a position on a State board without a transparent, open and fair process? That has pulled them into this discussion. They may be the best people for that job but there was no process. The Minister decided to evade the guidelines which have been laid down since 2014.

Why does the Minister believe he was correct to not have an open, transparent and fair process with regard to these public appointments? Why does he believe that this council did not come under that?

I said in that process that the way that we had previously appointed the Climate Change Advisory Council was the correct way. There are some instances-----

The guidelines are the guidelines.

-----wherein a Government Department and a Minister are best placed to be able to set up this advisory board. It is a very specific board, very different from any of the other commercial or semi-State boards all being appointed at the one time, and it required that a chair and a board be put in place very quickly in order for us to be able to meet our climate advisory targets. To my mind, the process that had been followed previously had worked and should be followed again, which is what we did. It was a process where, with my Government colleagues, there was a full-sharing of all the names in the correct timelines according to the Cabinet handbook, done to the letter of the law. The outcome shows that this was the correct approach.

Against the guidelines.

I work with the Public Appointments Service all of the time.

It was against the guidelines.

In this particular instance, the way we legislated for this was the right way to do it. It was about getting the right mix and blend of talent. I believe we have done that as, I think, the Deputy has recognised. Let us sit down and work with them now and deal with the real issue. This is not a stroke; this is to the letter of the law under the Cabinet handbook. This was done with all due, proper timelines.

No. It was not open, not transparent, not fair and against the guidelines. The Minister had an option. He could have done it openly.

Deputy Doherty, you are out of order.

Okay.

It absolutely was within the-----

You are over time too, Minister.

I will conclude.

I call Deputy Ó Ríordáin.