Since coming to Office in March 2011, I have made 115 appointments to the Boards of Agencies under my Department’s remit. Of these 46 were within my discretion. A further 24 appointments were re-appointments and a further 45 were allocated under legislation to social partners, nominees of prescribed bodies and appointments on an Ex Officio basis and were not appropriate, therefore, for public advertisement. Of the 46 appointments made within my discretion, 30 submitted expressions of interest. In respect of appointments that are wholly within my discretion, my overriding priority is to appoint the best people available for particular board positions. The credentials of the appointees vary depending on the requirements of the individual posts. I am satisfied however that in all cases, they have the skills and expertise to allow them to contribute positively to the functions of their individual board.
As the Deputy will be aware the Government decided on 30th September 2014 that all appointments (with some limited exceptions) are to be advertised in the State Boards portal, stateboards.ie, operated by the Public Appointments Service (PAS).
Appointees must meet specific and detailed criteria determined by the relevant Minister as necessary for the effective performance of the relevant role(s) and are processed by way of a transparent assessment system designed and implemented by PAS to support the relevant Minister in making appointments to State Boards under his/her remit.
Guidelines approved by the Government on the process to be used on making applications to State Boards were issue by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 27th November 2014.
