Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, obviously it will not be enacted before the end of the year. However, all applicants for positions on State boards now apply to the Public Appointments Service, PAS. That service, independently of the Department or Minister, examines the applications or expressions of interest for any positions that are open. The PAS determines the criteria, eligibility and appropriateness of persons to be considered for appointment. The service then sends a list of eligible and competent individuals to the Minister involved and the Minister is entitled to nominate from that list of eligible persons. In any event, Ministers do not know who applies for any of these positions. In respect of more serious positions under NewERA, the criteria, conditions of employment and specific requirements are set out in terms of the particular speciality a person might have and would bring to a State board.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is reviewing the issue Deputy Micheál Martin has raised. However, it is open to a Minister who has received a list of competent persons, for example, ten or 12 from whom three were to be appointed, to set up an internal interview board in the Department to decide who to nominate from that list of eligible people.

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