Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 October 2014
51. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the percentage of vacant positions on State boards under the aegis of her Department that were filled from the panels created through open application by the Public Appointments Service by year from to 2011 to date in 2014. [37495/14]
View answerThe statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Ombudsman (which does not have a Board) and the Social Welfare Tribunal. The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table.
|
- |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
- |
Percentage of vacant positions filled by panels created through open application by the Public Appointments Service |
Percentage of vacant positions filled by panels created through open application by the Public Appointments Service |
Percentage of vacant positions filled by panels created through open application by the Public Appointments Service |
Percentage of vacant positions filled by panels created through open application by the Public Appointments Service |
|
Citizens Information Board |
50%* |
0% |
0% |
0% |
|
Pensions Board |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
|
Pensions Authority (formerly the Pensions Board - established 7 March 2014) |
__ |
__ |
__ |
0% |
|
Social Welfare Tribunal |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
a) Citizens Information Board
There were four appointments since March 2011, three of which did not require public advertisement. Two were the Department of Social Protection’s representatives to the Board, the first appointed on 1 November 2011, and her replacement appointed on 14 March 2014. A Citizens Information Board staff representative was appointed on 5 November 2012. The fourth person was appointed through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) process. These appointments were made in accordance with the governing legislation: the Comhairle Act, 2000, as amended by the Citizens Information Act 2007.
b) Social Welfare Tribunal
Legislation provides that the four ordinary members of the Tribunal are appointed by the Minister on the recommendation of the two relevant bodies ICTU and IBEC. Therefore, none of these positions are publicly advertised.
The Chairperson of the Tribunal, who was re-appointed in 2012, is sourced by the Department of Social Protection by way of a recommendation from the Labour Court with regard to a particular candidate’s suitability.
c) Pensions Board (now the Pensions Authority)
There were no new appointments to the Pensions Board in the period.
d) Pensions Authority
The Pensions Authority comprises three members – a chairperson and two ordinary members. There were four new appointments to the newly established Pensions Authority (March 2014). The outgoing chairperson of the Pensions Board was appointed as the first chairperson of the Pensions Authority.
A representative of the Department of Social Protection and a representative of the Department of Finance were also appointed as ordinary members in March 2014.
The representative of the Department of Social Protection resigned during May 2014 and was replaced by another representative of the Department.
These appointments do not require public advertisement.
