Vol. 429 No. 7
87 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence if he will give a list of the semi-State boards under his aegis where the 40 per cent quota of women has been adhered to by the Government since it accepted the recommendations of the first statement of the Commission on the Status of Women in April, 1991; and if he will further list the boards where the quota has fallen below 40 per cent.
The boards/bodies under the aegis of the Department of Defence are the Army Pensions Board, Coiste an Asgard and the Irish Red Cross Society. The current male/female composition of the management of these boards/bodies is as follows:
(1) The Army Pension Board consists of a chairman and two ordinary members. Since January 1993 both ordinary members are female. The position of chairman is vacant at present.
(2) Coiste an Asgard is a company limited by guarantee and is established for the management of the Sail Training Vessel Asgard II. The Coiste currently has a board of 14 Directors, three of whom are female. In addition to one current vacancy on the Board, two further vacancies are anticipated shortly.
(3) The Irish Red Cross is an autonomous body with full powers to manage and administer its affairs through its governing body, the Central Council. The Council consists of members elected by the Society's areas and members nominated by the Government. It is statutorily prescribed that the Government's nominees must comprise not less than one third of the total membership of the Council. At present there are 22 Government nominated members of the Central Council and of these nine are female.
In the cases of the Army Pensions Board and the Irish Red Cross Society the level of female members of the State nominees is 40 per cent or higher. In respect of Coiste an Asgard, full consideration will be given to increasing the level of female membership of its management body when the next appointments are being made.
