asked the Taoiseach how selection boards under the auspices of the Local Appointments Commission are constituted; whether the panel of personnel of such selection boards is revised from time to time and, if so, the date of last revision; what scale of remuneration, fees or allowances and expenses is allowed to members for each session; and whether as a general rule the recommended applicants, as placed in order of preference by selection boards, are accepted and recommended for appointments by the commission.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Appointments Commission: Selection Boards.
These boards, although popularly known as selection boards, are, in fact, and are called by the Local Appointments Commissioners, interview boards.
Each board is constituted by the commissioners, personally, from a list of names submitted to them by the secretary of the commission. The choice of professional and technical experts depends on the kind of post to be filled. There is a lay chairman. The names put before the commissioners are selected from panels compiled over many years from membership of the various professional bodies, learned societies, university staffs, serving and retired public officials, business people and other persons of standing throughout the State. The panels are constantly being reviewed, but there is no formal revision at regular intervals.
Membership of an interview board is honorary and the only expenses allowed are the travelling and subsistence expenses, if any, incurred in attending the sessions of the board.
Each interview board is asked to advise the commissioners as to the qualifications of the candidates in respect of such matters as training, experience and suitability and to place in order of merit, in those respects, the candidates whom it considers to be qualified.
In addition to the qualifications on which the interview board advises, the commissioners have regard to candidates' knowledge of Irish. Preferences or extra marks are awarded for such knowledge in accordance with certain well-defined rules. These preferences or extra marks may, and sometimes do, result in the commissioners' selecting, for recommendation to the local authority concerned, a candidate other than the candidate whom the interview board placed first. Prospective candidates are made aware of this possibility. Even where the award of these preferences or extra marks produces no change in the order of merit in which the interview board has placed the candidates, the candidate placed first may subsequently decide not to proceed with his candidature, or may prefer another post of which he has the choice or may fail to satisfy the commissioners that he possesses the prescribed qualifications in respect of age, health or character. Subject to the exceptions I have indicated, it is the practice of the commissioners to select for recommendation to the local authority the candidate whom the interview board has placed first in order of merit.
I should like to avail myself of this opportunity of paying tribute to the invaluable public service given by the members of these interview boards. This service is given, as I have said, without remuneration or recompense and often at much personal inconvenience.