Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
268. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Education if she will provide the number of public servants serving on State boards since 2006 in an independent capacity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55910/23]
View answerIn making appointments to State boards under my remit as Minister for Education, my Department operates in accordance with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform guidelines on appointments to State Boards. The Deputy should note that Board appointments, while made by me as Minister, are not in all cases made at my discretion. Individuals may be nominated for appointment by various organisations arising from the terms in the relevant statutes of the Body concerned.
The Public Appointments Service (PAS) has responsibility for managing an open, accessible and transparent system to support Ministers in making state board appointments and it is open to all members of the public to apply for positions advertised on the stateboards.ie website.
Although the information requested by the Deputy may be available as part of the appointment process, under General Data Protection Regulation guidelines my Department does not have access to this information once the appointment has been made. Therefore, the specific information sought by the Deputy relating to public servants serving on State boards since 2006 in an independent capacity on Department of Education State boards is not available.
Details of the current membership of all applicable State boards are published on the State boards website www.Stateboards.ie and on the Department of Education’s website www.gov.ie State Boards Membership here.
