I am responsible for the appointment of members to the boards of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, the Child and Family Agency (Tusla), Gáisce (the President's Award) and the Board of Management for the Children Detention Schools.
On 26 February 2016, there were 6 vacancies on the Gáisce Council and 2 vacancies on the Board of Management of the Children Detention School. I am currently arranging for the six vacant positions on Gáisce to be advertised through the State Boards process, in addition to a subsequent vacancy recently notified to my office.
On 1 June 2016, the 3 children detention schools were amalgamated to form one entity, Oberstown Children Detention School, and a new Board of Management was appointed. A vacancy later arose on the Board of Management following the resignation of an officer of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. This was filled with my nominee on 25 July 2016.
Since 26 February 2016, 2 vacancies have arisen on the Tusla Board. One was filled as set out below. The second vacancy arose in April 2016 due to the resignation of a member. This and 3 other vacancies, which are due to be filled at the end of this year, are currently advertised on the stateboards.ie website. The closing date for applications is 27th September, 2016.
Since I assumed office in May this year I have appointed Ms Emer Egan to the Tusla Board with effect from 21 July 2016. Ms Egan was appointed following approval of Government to fill the unexpired term of office from 21 July 2016 to 31 December 2016 for the vacancy created by the previous nominee from the Department of Education and Skills. I have also made 13 appointments to the new Board of Management for the Children Detention School with effect from 1 June 2016. The Board consists of the chairperson and 12 ordinary members.
I appointed Professor Ursula Kilkelly, Dean of the School of Law, University College Cork as Chairperson. Professor Kilkelly is recognised as a leading expert in issues relating to the detention of children and has published widely on youth justice issues.
Of the 12 Ordinary members, the following 7 were appointed on foot of the requirements of section 167 of the Children Act 2001, as follows:
- Mr Jim Gibson - interim Chief Operations Officer of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency was nominated by the Minister for Health;
- Ms Fionnuala Anderson - an Education Officer in Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board was nominated by the Minister for Education and Skills;
Ms Sinead O’Herlihy and Mr Fiachra Barrett are members of staff on the Oberstown campus who were nominated for appointment on foot of a local balloting process by Oberstown staff in December 2015;
Mr Pat Rooney and Ms Elizabeth Howard are local community residents in the vicinity of the Oberstown campus and were nominated by Lusk Community Council in November 2015;
Mr Dan Kelleher is a former Principal Officer in the Irish Youth Justice Service, Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
I appointed the remaining 5 members of the board on foot of the publication of a notice for expressions of interest on the website www.stateboards.ie in January 2016, under the 2014 Guidelines for appointments to State Boards. I made the following 5 appointments from a short-list of 15 suitable candidates notified to my Department by the Public Appointments Service on 18 of February 2016:
- Mr Charles Irwin is an Accountant with the Professional Development Service for Teachers, Dublin
- Mr Diego Gallagher is a solicitor with Byrne Wallace Solicitors, Dublin
- Ms Emer Woodfull is a practicing barrister at the Law Library, Dublin
- Ms Fiona Murphy is a service coordinator with Extern - a charitable organisation which provides services to children assessed as being high risk requiring intensive community based support.
- Mr Michael Farrell is Corporate Secretary in University College Cork.
