Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thought I made it clear that appointments to some boards do not require my consent. I do not micro-manage board appointments by Ministers. Certain appointments to statutory bodies must come before Government, other appointments are dealt with by Ministers. There may be some occasions when a board is being constituted where discussion takes place with me, but in the main I leave the decisions to the Ministers concerned. Where appointments are to be made in which the Government has an interest, this will be brought to the attention of the Government as a matter of course. However, for certain bodies, Government approval of appointments is required under legislation, although these are a minority.

The general criteria for suitability are qualifications and experience. The Deputy mentioned some names that, as far as I can recall, were not brought to my attention. However, I will leave it to the Minister concerned to deal with those issues.

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