Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am coming to that but I was trying to explain what happened because the Deputy asked me about the annual report. I sent it back to the RSA in that robust language which maybe was too robust. It is my job to make sure the board is acting properly and to ensure the annual report is in a presentable condition and it was not. That is now behind us and will not happen again.

It is not specific to the board itself but I did examine the board and its attendance which in some cases was disappointing, some people were not attending. The maximum number on the board is 11. At present it stands at six. I have told the committee before and I do not want to dwell on it but I have serious reservations about the way boards are appointed. The first question is do we need to replace people. Are the boards too big? The RSA board was very big, at 11, which was the same size as the board of AIB. Does it merit that and do all the people on the board have the skills to which the Deputy refers? There are several vacancies and I intend to fill one with a person with experience in the financial world so that the audit committee can have somebody with the necessary skills on it.

I absolutely acknowledge that has to be done and it is being done, under a new system of board appointments. I do not think the Deputy wants to go into but I will go into it if he likes. The new system will mean that I have as little discretion as possible. I am also very keen in this case to have at least one other board member who is not one of the great and good of Irish board memberships, or one coming from the regular political or social partners' pool, or wherever they have come from in the past. I would like to have somebody on the board of the RSA who has been active in road safety activism, in other words someone who has been involved in a personal capacity or who has campaigned for road safety. Quite often in the case of boards of this sort, particularly State agencies or semi-State boards people select people who have great skills in other areas but no experience as consumers in the area we are talking about.