Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 January 2015
257. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his view on the move to replace five of the seven board members of the Irish Greyhound Board, IGB; if he will provide details of the five outgoing members of the IGB board; when they will be replaced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3543/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe legislative provisions governing the appointment of members to the Board of Bord na gCon are contained in the Greyhound Industry Act 1958 , as amended by the Greyhound Industry (Amendment) Act 1993.
In summary Board Members are appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine after consultation with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The term of office of an ordinary member of the Board of Bord na gCon is 3 years. Notwithstanding the expiry of a term of office Board members continue to hold office until such time as the Minister appoints a person to replace the out-going member.
The terms of office of Mr Mattie Murphy, Ms Ríona Heffernan, Mr Timothy Gilbert and Mr Tony McNamee were due to expire on 1 December 2014, however they remain in situ until they are replaced as provided for in legislation. In addition Mr William O’Dwyer is set to complete his term of office 20 June 2015. Out-going Board members are eligible for re-appointment.
Since 2011, when the Government introduced new arrangements for appointments to State Boards, expressions of interest have been invited for vacancies arising on Bord na gCon through this Department’s website. On 30 September 2014 the Government announced further changes to this system including that all appointments should be advertised on www.stateboards.ie (operated by the Public Appointments Service (PAS)), setting out specific and detailed criteria for the relevant role. The process of drafting the role specification for a Board position involves consultation between the Chairman of the State Board, the relevant Ministers and PAS, with the Minister having the final sign-off. All appointments will, under these arrangements, be processed by way of a transparent system in order to support the relevant Minister in making appointments to State Boards. The details of the new arrangements are to be found in the “Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards” on www.stateboards.ie.
I can confirm to the Deputy that the upcoming Board vacancies in Bord na gCon will be filled in accordance with the Guidelines and have been advertised on the website of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Chairman of Bord na gCon is currently considering role specification criteria for incoming members of Bord na gCon and I expect to hear from him shortly in this regard after which I will be in a position to liaise with PAS with a view to finalising the role specification and forwarding it for publication on www.stateboards.ie. Interested applicants will be invited to apply and the appointments process will then progress to finality, in accordance with the Guidelines. The Deputy will understand that it is not possible to put a timeline on when the process will be completed.
