Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There will be vacancies on them all very shortly, there are vacancies on some of them at the moment. There are gaps and this is the reason we are advertising for the National Transport Authority, NTA, now. This vacancy and those on other boards will be filled in this way and by these types of people very shortly. Do not hold me to this, but by the end of the year they should probably all be filled. The Deputy is quite right. It is just part of a gradual change. Everybody who goes through this process goes through the Public Appointments Service procedures and will then be interviewed. It is much stricter than any other Department. A name will then come up to me for appointment. I believe this will be a very worthy experiment, which I suspect and hope will be permanent.

The Deputy referred to the application and I will ask my officials to address this tomorrow. I do not have the answer now.