Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 June 2012
167 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will consider the appointment of an independent Public Appointments Commissioner to oversee all State board appointees, answerable to the Minister and the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. [28243/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra168 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach the instruction he provides to Government Ministers regarding evaluation of necessary skills sets when making appointments to State boards. [28237/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra169 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach the actions he has taken to rectify issues regarding transparency in the process of appointments to State boards following the Institute of Directors’ report State boards in Ireland 2012 — Challenges for the future published last month. [28236/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra170 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will consider the appointment of qualified Irish diaspora to State boards who have offered their expertise with no cost to the State. [28246/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 167 to 170, inclusive, together.
The Government does not plan to appoint an independent Public Appointments Commissioner to oversee all State Board appointments. Since coming into office we have made a number of improvements to the system for making such appointments, including:
Departments, on their websites, inviting expressions of interest in vacancies on the boards under their aegis, with the invitations indicating the skills being sought; and
those proposed for appointment as Chairpersons being required to make themselves available to the relevant Oireachtas Committee to discuss the approach they propose to take to their role as Chairperson and their views about the future contribution of the body in question.
I have noted the issues mentioned in the Institute of Directors' survey. However, the new arrangements introduced by the Government have significantly improved transparency in the making appointments to State Boards compared with the making of appointments in previous years.
As regards the appointment of qualified Irish diaspora, the only Boards under my Department's aegis are the National Economic and Social Development Office, National Economic and Social Council and the National Statistics Board. The arrangements for making appointments to these are set down in the relevant legislation (the National Economic and Social Development Office Act 2006 and the Statistics Act 1993). Members of the Government are aware of the offer made by the diaspora and I am sure they will take this into consideration when making appointments to the State Boards under their Departments' aegis.
