Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Appointments to each State board under the remit of my Department are made in accordance with the relevant legislation. I believe that strong State companies need strong boards to lead them. Appointments made by me are done on the basis of the appointees having the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to the work of the board. I am conscious that there are many skilled and experienced people in society who would welcome the opportunity to contribute their expertise by becoming members of State boards, but who may consider that they have no avenue for expressing this interest.

In preparing for the establishment of the National Transport Authority, I took the decision publicly to invite applications from members of the public who wished to be considered for appointment as an ordinary member of the authority. The application process was straightforward. Applicants were simply asked to demonstrate their experience of certain areas, such as finance, transport, land use planning and so on, as provided for in the legislation establishing the authority. I received 68 applications and I appointed four of these to the board of the authority on its establishment on 1 December 2009. This was a very useful experience and one that I may draw on again. Future appointments will be considered when the proposals contained in the current programme for Government are finalised.

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