I am assuming the deputy is referring to vacancies on State Board.
Guidelines on appointments to State Boards were issued in November 2014 and since then all vacancies on State Boards are advertised on the portal, www.stateboards.ie, operated by the Public Appointments Service (PAS). Each vacancy sets out specific and detailed criteria and the PAS operate a transparent assessment system to evaluate all applications against these criteria. All Information Booklets are available in the archive section at www.stateboards.ie/stateboards/archive.htm.
Full details on the number of campaigns and vacancies on State Boards advertised since the introduction of the Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards to date are available at www.stateboards.ie/stateboards/activitiesStatistics.htm.
The design of the assessment process in respect of any individual board vacancy may include all the usual and standard elements of assessment processes including formal interviews.
Over 2015 and 2016, some 122 campaigns were advertised and for 11 of those campaigns the Assessment Panels met with candidates.
The names of applicants deemed to meet the criteria are then forwarded to the Minister for consideration for appointment.