Appointments to State Boards

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Questions (36)

Seán Fleming

Question:

36. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Finance the number of appointments to State Boards under the remit of his Department in each year from 2011 to 2014; the number that were publicly advertised; the reason all appointments are not open to public competition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26271/14]

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Written answers

Minister for Finance

In response to the Deputy's Question the following table contains the number of board appointments inclusive of re-appointments made to state boards under the aegis of my Department since March 2011 to date in 2014.

National Asset Management Agency

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	1	Expressions of interest were sought in 2012 for a panel of candidates to fill any upcoming vacancies on the Board. To date all appointments to the NAMA Board have been Ministerial appointments, no board members have been appointed from the expressions of interest sought in 2012. *
2013	3	There were two members re-appointed to the board and one new appointment*
2014	1	New appointment.*

* I appointed the members of the Board of NAMA having regard to the criteria sent out in the NAMA Act.

Credit Union Restructuring Board (Rebo)

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	12	See note*
2013	0
2014	0

*The Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo) comprises thirteen members in total, including six independent members. To identify suitable independent members the Department publicly advertised for expressions of interest on the Department of Finance and the Public Appointments Service websites. Nominations were also invited from credit union representative bodies, the Central Bank of Ireland and the Department of Finance. The Minister also appointed Mr Joe O'Toole to ReBo for continuity purposes as Mr O'Toole was a member of the Commission on Credit Unions.

Appointments are made from those who submitted a curriculum vitae.

National Treasury Management Advisory Committee

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	1	It has been the norm to appoint the Secretary General of the Department of Finance to the Advisory Committee since the Establishment of the National Treasury Management Agency.
2013	0
2014	0

Board of the National Development Finance Agency

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	4	Two members were appointed on the basis of Curriculum vitae and two were ex-officio appointments
2013	0
2014	0

State Claims Agency Policy Committee

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	4	Two members were appointed on the basis of Curriculum vitae, one was a re-appointment and one was a Departmental Nominee.
2013	0
2014	0

National Pensions Reserve Fund

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	0
2012	1	Re-appointment of board member
2013	0
2014	0

Fiscal Advisory Council

Year	Number of appointments or re-appointments	Comment
2011	5	*see note
2012	0
2013	0
2014	0

* As Minister for Finance I announced the establishment of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council on a non-statutory basis on 7 July 2011. When establishing the Council, I stated that the Council would be an independent body whose existence and independence would be underpinned by legislation to be brought forward by Government in the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. The Chairman did not undergo interview by Oireachtas Committee but the Fiscal Council appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on a number of occasions to discuss their fiscal assessment reports. I appointed the members having regard to a number of criteria including the desirability of having a mix of appropriate backgrounds (academia, the financial sector/financial markets and public finance), macroeconomic/microeconomic expertise and a strong international dimension, as well as the need to take gender considerations into account.