Ms Moyagh Murdock:

It would be for the chairperson to comment on that matter. All I can say is that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform introduced guidelines in September 2016 requiring that all State boards follow certain procedures and raise any issues they have in terms of skill sets. They also require that boards be diverse and have the requisite fiduciary skills for carrying out financial oversight as well as the normal governance duties of a board. This issue is the subject of ongoing discussion between the Minister and the RSA chairperson and I understand the Minister is of a mind to address it now.

On high visibility clothing for pedestrians and the potential to make it mandatory, we are reluctant to move in that direction. This is not a police state. Guidance is provided for people's benefit and we will certainly provide high visibility clothing to social outlets and community centres to encourage people to use them. It is not viable to make high visibility clothing mandatory, however. We take feedback from members of the public on the issue, on which Mr. Rowland has done some research.