Appointments of Chief Executive Officers to commercial state bodies are governed by Guidelines on contracts, remuneration and other conditions of Chief Executives and Senior Management of Commercial State Bodies. These guidelines provide that chief executives appointed after 14th July 1999 may not serve in that position for a total of more than seven years.
The purpose of this provision is to ensure that commercial State bodies benefit from the introduction of differing perspectives, dynamics and vision and that the operation and growth of such companies is sustained at the highest level.
Bearing these principles in mind, any exception to this guideline would need to be based on a robust business case and exceptional circumstances consistent with the need to sustain performance at the highest level and would require the sanction of the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and for Public Expenditure and Reform.