Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2017
600. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the State bodies or boards that fall under the remit of his Department; and the number of members of each State body or board who are not qualified within the field in which the board or body has oversight. [43418/17]
View answerDetails in relation to the membership of State Boards including the dates of appointment and mechanisms of appointment of members under the aegis of my Department are available on the Department’s website at the following link:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/corporate/transparency-data/appointments-state-boards/appointments-declg-state-boards.
In the case of certain appointments to State Boards, statutory selection procedures must be followed or nominations must be sought from independent nominating panels before appointments are made by the Minister or the Government, as appropriate. In addition, in the case of a number of Boards, not all of the appointments to the body concerned are made by the Minister, and in some situations appointments are made by the Minister with the consent of another Minister. Furthermore, appointments to An Bord Pleanála are of a full-time executive nature and are governed by statutory processes.
A “unitary board structure” is in place for Ervia and its subsidiaries, Irish Water and Gas Networks Ireland. An overarching non-executive board has overall responsibility and accountability for the performance of the Ervia Group. The Boards of the two principal Ervia subsidiaries, Irish Water and Gas Networks Ireland, are executive-only boards.
The Public Appointments Service portal www.stateboards.ie offers a single dedicated point of contact to all Government Departments, as a support to the existing State Board appointment procedures. This service provides a mechanism for Departments to advertise board vacancies and it gives prospective candidates an opportunity to register their general interest in a position on a State Board and to be alerted to upcoming vacancies. This process for appointments to State Boards includes an assessment of the skills and competencies required to be a member of the relevant Board.
