Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 May 2018
174. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if neither he nor another person authorised formally or informally by him acting on his behalf communicated with the new chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland at any time prior to him making the appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23932/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra175. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the new chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland applied to be considered for the position of chairman through the agencies, stateboards.ie or publicjobs.ie; if the person complied with all the requirements set down in the advertisement for the position and was interviewed in a face-to-face meeting at the offices of the Public Appointments Service, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1, prior to him making the appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23933/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra176. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of males and females, respectively, that expressed an interest in being considered for the position of chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland that applied through the agencies, stateboards.ie and publicjobs.ie; the number of males and females, respectively that were interviewed in a face-to-face meeting at the offices of stateboards.ie or the Public Appointments Service prior to him making the appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23934/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra177. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of males or females, respectively that expressed an interest in the position of chairperson of Horse Racing Ireland to his Department and that did not apply through the agencies, stateboards.ie and or publicjobs.ie; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23935/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 177, inclusive, together.
I have been informed by PAS that they received nine applications and that the gender breakdown was seven males and two females. The Assessment Panel examined and assessed the material submitted in the application letters and CVs of all the candidates and agreed that three candidates should be further considered and invited to meet with a subgroup of the panel.
One of the three shortlisted candidates was out of the country and was interviewed via conference call by the members of the subgroup. The same members of the subgroup also interviewed the other two candidates but as these were available to travel to the PAS offices, the meetings were face to face. The same PAS representative was present for each of the three interviews. Of the three candidates, two were considered to meet the published criteria for the position and these two names were put forward to the Minister for consideration for appointment.
In relation to the person appointed, prior to the competition my Department confirmed to him that the appointment would be made through the PAS application process, and one of my officials informed him of the outcome at the end of the process.
I am personally committed to achieving the Government target of 40% gender balance on the Boards of State Bodies. I wrote to the Chief Executives of some agri-business companies asking them to support women within their companies who express an interest in being appointed to the Boards of State Bodies and to encourage those who may not as yet have considered putting themselves forward to do so.
In relation to six of the State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, some of the board appointments are made by me on the basis of nominations from third-party organisations for specified vacancies as set out in legislation. These State Bodies are the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board, Bord Bia, Horse Racing Ireland, National Milk Agency, Teagasc and the Veterinary Council of Ireland. I actively encourage the relevant nominating organisations to be pro-active in encouraging women within their membership to consider putting themselves forward for nomination for appointment to the Board of the State Body to which the organisation makes a nomination.
I will continue to take every opportunity to achieve gender balance on the Boards of State Bodies under the aegis of my Department.
