Ms Fiona Quinn:

The competitions for chief executives are run by the Public Appointments Service, PAS. It is an open competition process. Anybody can apply for it, obviously, if they meet the criteria for it. The PAS board will have two external members on it and two members nominated by the Department, one of whom would normally be me or the assistant secretary who holds the role in the local government division. They then go through an open process. There are a number of stages to it. There could be shortlisting and a preliminary interview, and then there will be a final interview which might include presentations. A whole process of assessment is done by the PAS, including all the normal vetting you would expect any public servant to go through, including Garda vetting. Indeed, a significant psychometric analysis test is done as well. It is a very extensive process and takes quite a bit of time. The PAS will then make a recommendation to the council, and the council will decide whether to appoint the chief executive designate.