Joan Burton says she would like to see more members of State Boards appointed through the public appointments system.
The bookies' favourite to become Labour party leader next week was reacting to news that one of the party's by-election candidate and a former Fine Gael TD have been added to the Board of Bord na Móna.
The move was approved at Cabinet by Labour's Pat Rabbitte, in his role as Communications Minister.
His party colleague Joan Burton defended one of the appointees this morning, but told Newstalk's Pat Kenny show she would like to see this done more often through public channels:
In the same interview, Joan Burton insisted she hasn't had any thoughts about her colleagues' Cabinet portfolios. She says she is concentrating on the leadership contest for now, "I have simply not allowed myself to think about anything around appointments. There will be changes, and I understand there are proposals for changes in Fine Gael also, that has been indicated through the media."
