Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 October 2012
29. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Finance the rationale for the appointment of a person (details supplied) as a director of AIB; if he was consulted on this appointment and if the Government consented to the appointment. [42259/12]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, Relationship Frameworks have been specified that define the nature of the relationship between the Minister for Finance and the banks. These Frameworks were published on 30 March 2012 and can be found at; http://banking.finance.gov.ie/presentations-and-latest-documents/. Per the Relationship Framework with AIB, “the Minister will continue to work with the Board to strengthen its membership through the appointment of suitably qualified, independent non-executives”. In this regard, the Board is expected to consult with the Minister in respect of any Board appointments that it proposes.
The process for independent non-executives selection involves the relevant board of AIB identifying what vacancies they have and the relevant skills they require. To help facilitate the selection process, the Department of Finance placed advertisements in the national papers during 2011 seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified persons for inclusion among those to be appointed or nominated to the Bank’s Board of Directors. This formed part of the commitments given in the Programme for Government. The bank considers potential candidates from this group, as well as from other sources.
With respects to the individual whose details were supplied in this PQ, I was informed that he passed the Central Bank of Ireland’s Fitness and Probity (F&P) Review. As a result coupled with his extensive financial experience, I had no objection to his appointment.
