Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for selecting this matter. Coming on the heels of the latest food safety issue, we find that the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, has failed to appoint members to the board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and that the board cannot meet because it does not have a quorum. As yet the Minister has offered no satisfactory explanation for his failure to appoint members to the board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. This is part of a pattern with positions on boards under the remit of the Minister for Health being left vacant. The new, more open method of appointment has not been availed of and, worse still, has actually been undermined by the Minister.

On 20 November I asked the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, the number and list of health agencies and boards that were awaiting ministerial appointments, how long they had been waiting and the number that did not have a quorum.

It was stated in the Minister's reply that there were 64 vacancies on nine boards within the remit of his Department, including six vacancies at that time on the board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The Minister advised me in November that the Food Safety Authority board had a quorum. We now know that this is no longer the case and that since November there have been only three members on that ten member board, which the CEO of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Professor Alan Reilly, has stated is far from satisfactory.

In the case of the Food Safety Authority, 25 people applied under the new procedures for a position on its board. The Minister continues to hold off on appointments despite our being reliably told the overwhelming number of those applicants are suitably qualified and eminent to take on any position of responsibility required by the board. What is going on in respect, in particular, of the Food Safety Authority board and the other boards under the Minister's remit?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I, too, thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important issue for discussion. The problem of appointments to boards has been a perennial one owing to a lack of planning within Departments. Given the introduction of better procedures, the process of filling vacancies, from the date on which they are announced or occur to the date on which they are filled, takes longer. Departments are required to commence planning six months prior to a vacancy occurring so as to ensure all positions on boards are filled. I acknowledge that in the past many Ministers failed to fill vacancies on boards in time. My experience when a Minister was that if one did not start the process on time it did not finish on time. That said, there is no excuse for a board to be with a quorum. I do not recall there ever being a board without a quorum during my time as Minister. There is no governance in an organisation without a board and a board cannot meet without a quorum.

I hope that the Minister of State can clarify today when the seven members will be appointed. I admire Deputy Ó Caoláin's homework on this issue. I suggest that the Minister fill all vacancies now and that a policy be adopted within his Department of foreseeable vacancies being filled on the date they occur. If he does so, he will avoid the temptation to fill all vacancies when a sudden election arises, as has happened under various previous Governments. If vacancies are filled as they arise, this issue does not arise.

We need to hear from the Minister of State when these vacancies will be filled and a proper explanation for why they have not been filled to date. If the reason they have not been filled is because they were thought about too late then the Minister of State should tell us so. She should also say what remedial action will be taken in that regard. It is important also that the Minister of State say if the lack of a board on the FSAI had any affect or caused any difficulty for it in dealing with the recent meat scandal, which was bad enough, without now finding that the authority which identified the problem does not have a governing board in place.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. While I have a fairly substantial reply before me, I do not think it shines any light on the question raised.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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They rarely do.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I always try, when responding to questions or topical issues, to be as helpful as possible.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I know that.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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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.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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As acknowledged by the Minister of State, the reply contains no explanation for the failure to fill the vacancies. The question I must ask - one could be forgiven for thinking the worst - is why the Minister has not filled these vacancies, which amounted to 64 last December? Is it the case that the Minister is planning to abolish these boards? That is not an unreasonable question to ask in the context of such failure to act. If that is the case, surely then the Minister should, as requested earlier by Deputy Ó Cuív in his contribution, tell us so.

I ask the Minister of State to note that in terms of the new methodology of access the Minister, in failing to act, is making a nonsense of the system. Will the Minister of State agree that the Minister's inactivity and failure to act in filling vacancies on the board, despite the declared public interest in terms of the applications made, makes a mockery of the process? I would argue that the more open procedures need to be strengthened and that the Minister should be required to appoint a set proportion of people who apply in this way provided they are suitably qualified. This would be an improvement on the current inactive system.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I fully accept that the Minister of State would like to give us the full information. I am disappointed that the Minister is not, as was agreed when the new format for Topical Issues was agreed, here to answer for himself. I do not attach any blame to the Minister of State for the response given, which is of the type with which I, when Minister, was often presented and would return seeking further information. It is not satisfactory that we are not being given answers to our questions.

The Minister of State told us that an open competition was held by the Public Appointments Service in March 2012. I do not go along with the popular view that only those selected by the Public Appointments Service should be appointed because boards often require the expertise of technical people. I believe that if the Minister, on reviewing the list of selected appointees, identifies a deficit of people with the skills required he should make his own appointments and then answer for those decisions. The best people for the job might not always apply for it. Many boards, such as the pensions board and so on, require technical expertise.

One will find from a review of my record when a Minister that I did not make any last minute appointments to boards. I took a decision not to do that. It is important that a commitment is given that vacancies will be filled on the day they occur, unless such vacancy is unforeseen and-or casual.

The reply states that traces of horse DNA were also detected in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from other member states. It is very cleverly written. If the Minister of State does not know the answer to the following question, I ask her to get it for me. Can we take it there is no truth to a story in the newspapers at the weekend that some of these raw materials might have originated within the country? Clarity is needed on this issue. Wherever the horse DNA came from, did any of it originate in Ireland? Is it possible that any did? Was all of it definitely imported from a supplier from abroad?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I am always reluctant to speculate on speculation, and this is probably what was in the newspapers at the weekend. When we receive the report we will know absolutely from where the contamination came. There was no threat to human health, and this is the first and central point we need to make. I congratulate the Food Safety Authority on carrying out tests which I believe no other country does. As the Deputies know, the Minister is in Brussels. We hold the Presidency of the European Union and all Ministers had to be in Brussels this week, as did I. I assume he would have been here had he been available.

To reply to Deputy Ó Caoláin, taking time to fill a board is sometimes very necessary and this is acknowledged. If one does not have the required expertise on the list in front of one, it would be a greater mockery to put in someone who did not have the expertise. I believe when it comes to food safety most women are experts and one does not need an arm's length of qualifications. We must get this type of mix when it comes to food safety and food production. The Minister is probably one of the hardest working and busiest Ministers in the Government, and we all know the Department of Health is one of the busiest in government. I will convey the expressed opinions of the Deputies to him. We need to be sensible about certain issues, including getting a proper mix on the board and getting the board as quickly as possible.