I will not display it, but I refer to the ballot paper for the Seanad by-election. The second candidate on the list is Mr. John McNulty from County Donegal. I will not give his address. He is listed as a business man and board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. We know that he is not a board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and contest that he probably never was because the board never met to ratify his appointment by whomever and we do not know whether the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, was told to do it by the Taoiseach-----

Last week I ruled that the qualifications of candidates were not a matter for the Seanad.

I accept and respect your ruling from last week, a Chathaoirligh, but the Government cannot slide away from this and think people are going to forget about it. I am not forgetting about it because what has happened in the past week is absolutely despicable and deplorable. It is a degradation of the Seanad. I say to the Leader that the Taoiseach and a Minister of his party has brought the Chamber and the democratic structures of the State into disrepute. A nomination was made up in order to ensure the individual concerned could run in the by-election. Others will say he may have been able to do this anyway. We will never know that because another candidate, Mr. Craughwell, withdrew his complaint to the committee on the basis of the apparent qualification of Mr. McNulty owing to his being a board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. That is what happened. Now we have a ballot paper that states he is a board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. That is who some Members across the Chamber are being asked to vote for, when that is not the case. I put it to the House that he is not qualified on that basis.

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

Yes, I have a question for the Leader and I have also proposed an amendment to the Order of Business. We deserve answers on the issue. Let us be fair. The Taoiseach belatedly apologised, but I do not know what he apologised for because the previous day he said it was a matter for the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys. I would not have proposed the amendment if the Minister had answered any questions when she came to the House last week, but as colleagues are aware, she did not. She re-read her script. She did not answer the question as to why-----

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader? He is way over time.

As the Minister did not answer the questions put to her, I will give her another opportunity to do so.

The Senator is so good.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business and ask my colleagues to examine the matter if we care about transparency and getting to the bottom of the issue.

I seek the attendance in the Chamber today of the Minister to answer questions put to her such as who asked her to appoint this chap, Mr. McNulty, to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Was she aware that this individual was going to be a Seanad by-election candidate for Fine Gael?

These are questions the Senator can ask during the debate.

I am proposing the amendment because this is a serious issue.

The Senator is way over time.

I will finish on this point, but for argument's sake, had this issue not been raised in this Chamber last week and had some journalist not done the job, none of us would have known about it. Incidentally, two thirds of State appointments since the Administration took over have been appointed without any advertisement.

The Senator is way over time. These are points that can be made during the debate.

I formally propose an amendment to the Order of Business again today to have the Minister come into the House to answer questions put to her about the appointment of Mr. McNulty to the board of the IMMA in order to ensure he could be a ratified candidate to fill a vacancy in this very House.