Senator Denis O'Donovan raised the John McNulty saga and confessed to eavesdropping and listening in corridors after the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting. I have no comment on his eavesdropping skills, but my view on the issue has been expressed consistently on a number of occasions. I have serious concerns about the timing of and the manner in which the appointment of Mr. McNulty was made to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, but things have moved on. Mr. McNulty has indicated that he does not want people to vote for him and the Taoiseach has advised Fine Gael Members not to do so and respect Mr. McNulty's wishes. We will have to consider how we vote in a secret ballot and I know that the Clerk of the Seanad has sent instruction on this issue to all Senators. In the circumstances, I will not accede to the amendment sought by Senator Denis O'Donovan.

Yesterday I asked the Leader for a debate on the new mechanisms announced by the Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, which received Cabinet approval this week. It is historic that the Government has now agreed to a revised model for ministerial appointments to State boards that at last will resolve this ongoing issue. As Senator Paschal Mooney fairly acknowledged, it has been an issue that has affected many Governments. This week's decision ensures there will be a structured approach, requiring all appointments to fill vacancies on State boards to be advertised openly on the State boards portal, stateboards.ie, operated by the Public Appointments Service. There will be specified and detailed criteria for the effective performance of a role which may be determined by a Minister, if necessary. Applications will be processed through a transparent assessment system designed and implemented by the independent Public Appointments Service. I welcome these changes. Some colleagues gave examples of existing good practice, whereby different committees had scrutinised appointments which were made in a transparent and objective manner. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality scrutinised the membership of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and we found it to be a very useful exercise. I hope there will be more of this, as it is clear there will be a very different system for all Government appointments.

Senator Paul Coghlan commented on the flogging of a dead horse and referred to the new planning Bill that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is publishing today. It is an important Bill that will make significant changes and improvements to the planning regime, particularly by allowing for the imposition of vacant site levies by local authorities, which will free land for building. The focus of the Bill is on allowing the construction of housing at a swifter rate than heretofore.

Senator Sean D. Barrett referred to the decline in Irish university rankings in the publication of The Times higher education rankings. As others said, like opinion polls, these rankings always come with a health warning. There are questions about the criteria used in the different ranking systems. The staff-student ratio is only one criterion, as is the academic citation.

Everybody who contributed on this issue did so in a measured fashion, which is appropriate. While UCD has, unfortunately, fallen in the rankings, it is still among the top 200. Also, it is not true to say there have been dramatic or consistent falls in other institutions. For example, Trinity College Dublin which was already out of the top 100 has fallen from 129th to 138th in the rankings, which, while regrettable, is a relatively small fall. If it was an opinion poll, it would be said it was within the margin of error. It is important to say NUI Galway has moved upwards and is now the third ranked university in Ireland. Also, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has for the first time entered the top 400. It should not be forgotten that there are more than 15,000 universities represented in the rankings. It is important to bear all of this in mind when commenting. I am happy to support the call made by Senator Sean D. Barrett that the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, be asked to come to the House for a debate on the third level sector generally and the many factors that dictate the ranking and status of universities. This is not just an issue of resources but also the structure of universities and the systems in place and so on.

Senator Michael Mullins referred to Fianna Fáil's history in the filling of board positions with its supporters. The figure of approximately 272 appointments to State boards made by Fianna Fáil during its final four months in government from December 2010 to March 2011 speaks for itself. It is an important figure.

They had to be made.

It should not be forgotten also-----

On a point of order, the Deputy Leader is being selective. A similar number of appointments to State boards were made by the last rainbow coalition in 1997 during its dying days in government.

That is not a point of order.

As I said earlier, it is important that people be objective and fair-----

The Senator should resume his seat.

-----and not engage in political point scoring, which is what is now being done.

I acknowledged that the Senator had taken a much more measured approach to the issue than many of his colleagues.

With respect, it is a much more measured approach than that being taken by the Deputy Leader.

It is important to highlight the large number of appointments made.

I will highlight it next week.

Balance is important.

Next week I will quote the figures for the appointments made by the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition.

How many of those appointments had to made?

The Deputy Leader is trying to respond to the questions asked.

Perhaps she might say how many of the appointments made at the time had to be made.

Will the Senator, please, allow the Deputy Leader to respond to the questions asked by Members?

It is interesting to note that less than one third of all appointments made by Fianna Fáil during its 14 years in government were of women. I agree that there is a need for the appointment of more women to ensure a better gender balance in State appointments.

The Deputy Leader should have a word with the Taoiseach.

I hope that will be the result of the new measures to be introduced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, which recently received full Cabinet approval.

He has a great record with women, professionally, of course.