Vol. 473 No. 4
94 Ms Keogh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the State and semi-State boards under the aegis of his Department; the appointments, if any, which have been made to these boards in the past year; the number of women who have been appointed; the percentage of women currently on each of these boards; and the end date of the current term of all of the boards. [1343/97]
The relevant agencies which come under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs are the Agency for Personal Service Overseas (ASPO), the Cultural Relations Committee (CRC), the Irish Aid Advisory Committee (IAAC), the National Committee for Development Education (NCDE) and the Refugee Agency.
Since January 1996 the following changes were made to the membership of the above boards:
APSO — four new appointments, two of them women, were made to the board of APSO. There are now five women on the APSO board representing 46 per cent of the total membership. The terms of appointment of the current members of the board will expire on various dates from 1999 to 2001.
CRC — four appointments, all of whom were women, were made to the CRC. There are now nine women on this committee representing 50 per cent of the total membership. The term of office of the current CRC will end on 31 December 1997.
IAAC — three new appointments, one of whom was a woman, were made to the IAAC. There are now four women on this committee representing 29 per cent of the total membership. The term of office of the current IAAC will expire in December 1997.
NCDE — two new appointments, one of whom was a woman, were made to the NCDE in 1996. There are now five women on this committee representing 31 per cent of the total membership. The term of office of the current NCDE will expire in October 1997.
Refugee Agency — there were no women among the three new appointments made to the board of the Refugee Agency in 1996. There are five women members already serving on this board representing 36 per cent of the total membership. The term of office of the current board will expire in October 1997.
The National Economic and Social Forum is the only agency which comes under the aegis of the office of the Tánaiste. There were four appointments made in 1996, one of whom was a woman. These appointments brought the number of women on the forum to 25. This represents 51 per cent of the total membership. The forum's current term of office runs until 31 December 1997.
