Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can see where Deputy Calleary is coming from in terms of the spirit of this amendment. Appointments to the board of SFI are made by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in consultation with the Minister for Education and Skills and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. In reality, this proposed amendment captures what is already established practice when, annually, the two longest serving SFI board members must retire from the board each July. As part of the board appointments process, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation actively considers the existing competencies of the SFI board membership and examines the gaps arising from board retirements or other vacancies that might arise separately to the annual retirement process. The Minister also examines the emerging scientific or industrial expertise needs and trends from which the board would benefit, the gender representation on the board at all times, the ongoing evolution of Ireland's research system and in particular the maturing and increasing relevance of SFI investments, foreign direct investment, FDI linkages and our indigenous base.

The Government has also established a practice whereby appointments to State boards are advertised publicly via the Public Appointments Service, PAS, and applications invited. Such an advertisement regarding the forthcoming July 2013 SFI board vacancies is live on the PAS website, publicjobs.ie. As part of this process there is a detailed list of competencies which potential SFI board members would need to meet and if we were to accept the Deputy's proposed amendment in this regard, we would also need to significantly broaden the proposed wording of the Bill further. In this case on page 6 between lines 6 and 7 we would include text along the following lines: "In appointing members of the board the Minister shall seek to ensure it contains a balance of expertise in such areas as academic research, commercial research and development, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, research funding, development and venture funding, public engagement-outreach education, research and development, industrial policy development implementation and assessment both internationally and nationally, awareness and detailed knowledge of Ireland's research landscape, public sector experience and higher education systems," among many other things. However, given the established practice undertaken by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation regarding board appointments and the openness of the PAS process which the Government has established regarding appointments to State boards, and the lengthy list of competencies I have just mentioned, I am of the view that the Deputy's proposed amendment is unnecessary, therefore I am not in a position to accept it.