Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's question, to which I am responding, was primarily about the board and its membership. I understand that the assessment of the school completion programme is under way. I will check the proposed date of completion of that work and will pass on the information to the Deputy. It was undertaken because of the wide variety in approaches to school completion around the country and to try to get a national overview of the work being done. I will have to give the Deputy the details later.

The Deputy will see from the notice posted about those who will be appointed to the board that we emphasise the skills that would be required and the range of expertise needed to run an agency of that size, with 4,000 staff. He will note that one of the criteria on the website is knowledge of and expertise in community development, social inclusion and community participation. We want to have as wide a range of skills as possible available to the board and the appointments will be based on merit and suitability to run an agency of that size and to make meaningful contributions. We are not trying to make the board representative of everyone involved in the sector but we do want to make sure that it will include experts in the various areas within the remit of the agency, such as community involvement, family support and child protection who will contribute to the management of the agency and the development of policies.

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