Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I think they are dealt with by the PAS now. Do those boards feel that people of a suitable quality were not picked because of the gender quota? How is the Department getting on with the appointment of members of the arbitration board under the Construction Contracts Act? I understood the chairman was to be picked from the board but it has been done in reverse order and the chairman has been picked before the board members were picked.

Will the Minister give us the figure for recruitment across the public service, and a breakdown of grades, for example principal officer or clerical officer, not just for 2015 but 2014 too, so that we can see the trend? On Garda recruitment, I understand 33,000 might apply, which will be challenging. However, I believe the first application is made online from one's home computer and the number is then whittled down but the next round is also done off site, from a person's computer. I have been told that people have got other people, who were experienced and knew what the job was about, to complete their online applications for them. There is no guarantee that the people who filled in the first two rounds are the people who will move onto stage 3. Lots of parents get their children to fill in forms for them online and the same is happening with the applications to join the Garda Síochána. Nobody knows who is actually filling the forms in and the next round will be the same.