FG and Labour Corporate Governance Policies
Both Fine Gael and the Labour Party produced policy papers proposing stronger legislation to ensure compliance with good corporate governance and proposals on appointments to State bodies. The Fine Gael policy is set out in Reinventing Government . The Labour party policy is in Labour’s Plan to Reform Politics, Government and the Public Service .
Fine Gael proposes that the number of public bodies, regulators and inspectorates would be reduced by 145. The policy document stated, also, that where appropriate, agency boards would be scrapped and many functions would be delivered through “an executive agency structure”. Vacancies for all remaining paid directorships would be advertised on the Public Appointments Service web site. Short lists of qualified applicants will be presented to Ministers.
Labour proposes a reduction in ‘the number of Quangos and duplication of agencies and Government departments’. The policy states that there will be an end to the system whereby appointments to state boards are used as a form of political patronage and for rewarding insiders. In the future appointments ‘must be based on a demonstrable capacity to do the job’.