Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is customary for these vacancies on State boards to be notified through the Public Appointments Commission and we welcome that. While this is a welcome development, all of the evidence to date is that it has made absolutely no difference to those who are being appointed to serve on boards. The main development is Ministers, in conjunction with the Taoiseach, are getting the people they would appoint anyway to put their CV through the State's appointments commission. It seems that many of the people who were appointed previously are being reappointed which, thankfully, would indicate the Government sees that many of the people appointed in the past had merit.

Can the Taoiseach tell us if he will undertake a review of the plethora of State boards we have across the country to indicate the extent to which these boards are being effective, whether they are doing the job they were appointed to do and if they have the correct skillsets in place? It is all very well to appoint them, and one can perhaps to some extent point to some improvement in the process of appointment, albeit that many of them still have very strong political connections. Having political connections is not a bad thing, a sin or something we should hold up to ridicule, but are they doing the job they are charged with doing effectively? What systems for monitoring the effectiveness of these bodies has the Taoiseach put in place or does he intend putting in place in the period ahead?

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