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Appointments to State Boards

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 September 2020

Tuesday, 15 September 2020

Questions (291)

Marc MacSharry

Question:

291. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on whether, for optimum corporate governance, all organisations and agencies under the competent authority of the State should adhere to the practice of term limits for key personnel including the positions of CEO, chairperson and board members; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23979/20]

View answer

Written answers

The Code of Practice for the Governance of State bodies sets out guidance to enhance the governance of state bodies, which includes issues relating to the term limits for members of State Boards. It is expected that all State bodies abide by this guidance, or should explain reasons for any deviation. However, it should be noted that the issue of term limits may also be addressed in any legislation setting up or governing State bodies. The Code provides that “Existing legislative provisions applying to a State body on matters that are also the subject of this Code, continue to apply and for the avoidance of doubt, in the event of any conflict or inconsistency, the legislative provisions prevail”.

My Department has recently provided for some amendments to the Code, which inter alia deal with the issue of Board term membership, and which are designed to advance the Government's priority of promoting gender balance, diversity and inclusion in State bodies. The relevant provision, as now updated, sets out that:-

“Consistent with best corporate governance practice it is recommended that no member of a State Board should serve more than two full terms of appointment on that Board, or should hold appointments to more than two State Boards, at the same time, unless the specific statutory provisions relating to the particular State body enable such service. The State Board or, where necessary, the relevant Government Department should vary the terms of Board appointments to between three and five years. A period of appointment may be renewed for a further period, to a maximum of eight years in total. If exceptionally it is decided that a Board member should serve a further additional Board term, or that a renewal of appointment would bring the total period of service to above eight years, this requires Ministerial approval. All of the above provisions are however subject to compliance with the Body’s establishing legislation, where relevant.”

In respect of the role of Chief Executive, my Department has published separate guidance on this issue (the "Guidelines for Appointments of CEOs of Non-Commercial State Bodies" of April 2019 refer). Those guidelines provide as follows:-

“In general, CEOs are appointed for one five year fixed-term contract, unless otherwise provided for in the Body’s establishing legislation.”

Furthermore, the guidelines provide that in any instance where a Board wishes to reappoint a CEO to a further term, a business case should be submitted to the parent Department and if approval is proposed, then submitted to my Department. Similar arrangements apply in relation to Commercial State Bodies where the template contract of employment for CEOs of Commercial State Bodies provides for appointment for a single seven year fixed term contract and any proposal for reappointment or contract extension requires submission of a business case as described above.

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