Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Since taking office, I have made 41 new appointments to the boards of agencies within my discretion. A further 67 were either reappointments or posts reserved under legislation for various representative groups. The Department advertised all board positions in the form of a group advertisement at the start of the year.

Of the new appointments made at my discretion, 28, or over two thirds, of those appointed were selected from those who had submitted an expression of interest in response to publicly advertised calls administered in conjunction with the Public Appointments Service. This process generated a strong response in terms of the number and quality of the expressions received. In all cases the expressions were evaluated having regard to the skills, expertise and experience being offered in the vacancy being filled. The gender breakdown was 50:50, with 14 men and 14 women being appointed.

As regards fees payable to chairpersons and board members, they are paid in line with the categories into which the agency falls under the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's system. Of the agencies within my Department's remit, eight are deemed to be in category 2, for which the chairperson's fee is €20,250, while the fee for an ordinary member is €11,970.

The remaining four are deemed to be in category 3, for which the annual fees payable to the chairperson and ordinary board members are €11,970 and €7,695, respectively. The Deputy will wish to note that fees are not paid to all appointees. In some cases members may have opted to waive their fees, while some members will be subject to the one person one salary principle and others are departmental nominees who are not entitled to fees. The cumulative annual value of fees for the agencies based on their current composition is €200,070 payable to 11 chairpersons, an average of €18,188, and €847,305 payable to 84 board members, an average of €10,086.

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