Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It does not serve us not to do so. I recall a time when there were substantial vacancies on boards and, as correctly stated by Deputy Ó Cuív, the unsightly and unseemly scramble to fill vacancies at the time of an election. The Deputies will be aware, from the copy of the reply which they have received, that the lack of appointments to vacancies on the board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland did not have any impact on the rigorous testing carried out by the authority, for which it is to be congratulated. Ireland is the only country that carries out such testing.

As stated in the reply, the Minister does not believe FSAI board vacancies hampered its work during the incident. While the board performs important functions in relation to corporate governance, it is a non-executive board and is not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation. The Minister has been assured by the chief executive officer of the FSAI that this is the case, although he has kept all board members fully informed of all developments during the incident in regard to food products.

On the board vacancies, the Minister instructed the Department to conduct an open competition for the filling of FSAI board vacancies through the public appointments service. This was done in March 2012 given the importance of ensuring a good balance of technical expertise and independence on the board. The Minister has since given full consideration to the filling of these vacancies and expects them to be filled shortly.

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