Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. It is welcome that there will be pressure on the agencies to have appropriate boards in place. I am interested in hearing what the timescale is and whether any effort will be made to create an appropriate template for the various organisations. Primary schools have a particular template for how boards are appointed which specifies the inclusion of representatives of parents, teachers and the community, the principal and the chairperson of the board of management. Does the Minister consider that it would be valuable to do some work along these lines? Will he comment on two things, first, whether staff or clients of an organisation should be able to elect people to boards and, second, the length of time for which one should serve on a board? It is important that there be rotation. I do not wish to be entirely prescriptive, but, for example, a person might serve for a period of three years, after which another election should be held. In total, nobody should serve on a board for more than nine years. One of the problems with the CRC was that it was a self-perpetuating board and the staff and clients of the organisation had no influence on it whatsoever.

I am interested in hearing the Minister's response on whether a template should be put in place, whether clients and members of staff should be able to elect people to the board and how long people should serve.

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