Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 7 May 2003

Vol. 566 No. 1

Written Answers. - Ministerial Appointments.

Dan Boyle

Ceist:

391 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of nominations and appointments made by him since 6 June 2002; and the number of vacancies and areas where vacancies for such appointments will arise and when. [11868/03]

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I am assuming that the Deputy is seeking information in relation to appointments made to State boards. The number and duration of appointments made by me since 6 June 2002 and the vacancies due to arise in the next 12 months are set out as follows:

	Appointments	Duration of ministerial appointments	Vacancies arising in the next 12-month period
Irish Film Board	Nil	January 2005	Nil
Arts Council	Nil	Five years	See notehereunder
Irish Sports Council	1	From 4 November 2002 for a period not exceeding eight months	3
	1	From 20 September 2002 for a period not exceeding three years
	1	From 20 September 2002 for a period not exceeding three years
	1	From 20 September 2002 for a period not exceeding two years
Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited	Nil	Not specified	Not specified(see note)
National Archives Advisory Council	12	Five years	Nil
National Gallery of Ireland board of Governors and Guardians	3	Five years	4
National Library of Ireland Council of Trustees	1	Five years	Nil
National Museum of Ireland Caretaker Board	Nil	N/A	Nil
National Museum of Ireland and Botanic Gardens Board of Visitors	Nil	Three years	Nil
National Concert Hall	Nil	Five years	Nil
Marsh's Library Board of Governors and Guardians	2	Five years	Nil
Irish Museum of Modern Art Board of Directors	Nil	Five years	Nil
Chester Beatty Library Board of Trustees	1	Five years	1
Shannon Development	Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment appoints all board members	One nomination and appointment is made by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment	1
CERT	Nil	Three years	Nil
National Tourism Development Authority	13 to interim board	Three years	See note
Horse Racing Ireland	3	Ordinary member term of office is four years;Chairperson term of office is five years	3
Bord na gCon	3	Ordinary member term of office is three years;Chairperson term of office at the Minister's discretion.	2
Bord Fáilte Éireann	4 re-appointments	9 December 2002 – 31 March 2003
		1 April 2003 – 31 May 2003

Appointments to Tourism Ireland's board are made by the North-South Ministerial Council, that is, by the Ministers for tourism, North and South; as such they cannot be made by the Minister unilaterally.

The current membership of the Arts Council expires this year. It is hoped to make appointments to the council under the provisions of the Arts Bill 2002, when enacted.

There is currently no legislation governing Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited and the articles of association do not specify any duration of a director's term of office.

I will be appointing 13 members to the board of the National Tourism Development Authority on its establishment in the coming days.

There is one vacancy on the board of Bord Fáilte since 5 June 2002. The re-appointments referred to in the tabular statement are extensions for short periods pending the imminent establishment of the National Tourism Development Authority.