Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 October 2013
20. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection the procedure that is followed by her Department when appointing members of the public to State boards or other agencies under the aegis of her Department; if she will outline all appointments made by her to all boards or agencies since March 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43329/13]
View answerThe statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Board, the Pensions Ombudsman (which does not have a board) and the Social Welfare Tribunal.
Citizens Information Board
The procedures followed when appointing members to the Citizens Information Board (CIB) are in accordance with the Revised Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies where Departments invite expressions of interest from members of the public for vacancies on the boards or bodies under their aegis.
These new arrangements involve using a centralised application service provided by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) to manage the expressions of interest received. Interested parties are required to submit an online application form, a self-assessment of their skills and/or experience in a number of identified competency areas, a curriculum vitae and a covering letter.
The legislative provisions governing appointments are contained in the Comhairle Act 2000, the Citizens Information Act 2007 and the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011.
There have been three appointments to the Board since March 2011. One member was appointed with effect from 7 September 2011. This followed an advertisement for expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced individuals on the Department’s website, www.welfare.ie, which invited applicants to register their interest through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) website, www.publicjobs.ie . 172 applications were received through PAS and, following a selection process, the appointment was made in accordance with the legislation governing appointments to the Board.
The other two appointments did not require public advertisement. One was appointed as the Department’s representative to the Board on 1 November 2011 and the other was appointed as the CIB’s staff representative on 5 November 2012.
Pensions Board
No appointments have been advertised or made by me to the Pensions Board since I took office in March 2011.
The Public Service Reform Programme provided for a critical review of the integration of the regulatory functions of the Pensions Board with the Financial Regulator and the merging of the Pensions Ombudsman with the Financial Services Ombudsman. The recommendations arising out of the Critical Review on the Pensions Board were approved by Government in April 2013 and were provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2013.
It was recommended that the governance structure of the Pensions Board be restructured with two distinct arms as follows:
- Oversight of the Pensions Board will be undertaken by a three person body called the Pensions Authority. This will consist of a Chairperson and two officials from the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Finance.
- A separate unpaid Pensions Council, with a majority of members representing consumer interests, will be established to advise me on pension’s policy.
I expect to appoint the Chairperson of the Authority shortly and the new structure should be operational by end 2013. Expressions of interest for the appointment to the Pensions Council will be processed through the PAS system in the coming months and I expect the Council to be operational by the end of the year.
Social Welfare Tribunal
The Board of the Social Welfare Tribunal consists of a Chairperson and four ordinary members, two of whom are nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and two by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC), in accordance with legislation.
There have been 6 appointments to the board since March 2011. One of the ICTU members of the Tribunal resigned in 2011 and, on ICTU’s nomination, a replacement member was appointed from 24 October 2011.
All appointments were due for renewal on 4 October 2012. Four members of the previous board and one new person nominated by IBEC were appointed to the new board by me, effective from 5 October 2012. None of these positions were filled on foot of public applications due to the structure of the Tribunal. The board is made up of individuals deemed to be representative of both employers and employees.
