Experts 'could hold portfolios'

Technology, energy and communications are among the areas where a Fianna Fáil government would appoint outside experts to ministerial posts if elected to power, the party's leader Micheál Martin told a meeting of the Irish technology community in Dublin this morning.

The departments of enterprise and foreign affairs could "over time" see ministerial appointments from outside the Dáil or the Seanad, Mr Martin added.

"We need to dramatically change how we do politics and how we form governments," he said at a Dublin Web Summit briefing.

The proposal to allow outside appointments to the cabinet, which is part of Fianna Fáil's election manifesto, would require a change to the constitution.

Mr Martin said Ireland was one of a small number of countries where participation in politics at cabinet level was restricted to a "narrow range" of professional politicians.

However, he said he believed technological expertise was more advanced in the private sector than in the public sector.

He was also "convinced" that there was "a huge capacity" for bringing in outside experts in the energy and communications sectors given their strategic importance to the country.

Mr Martin told the industry audience that when he was minister for education in 1997, he had received a "bizarre" official letter from the Department of Finance arguing against spending money on technology in schools "because the personal computer might well be a passing fad".

He admitted government support for the ICT programme for schools had been "stop-start" over the past decade.

"I believe that Ireland can be a global innovation hub. This is not an empty phrase. It is achievable with the right policies," he said, citing the development of Ireland as a host for green data centres and an international content services base as areas for where there are opportunities for employment growth.

The Fianna Fáil leader also said he was in favour of appointing a chief technology officer in government.

He noted there had been some "false starts" and "mistakes" made when launching department and agency websites in the past. This, he said, indicated "a lack of capacity" in the public service as well as an "over-reliance" on external consultancies, "some of which were not good at all and gave very poor advice".