Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to appear before the House again this evening to address matters concerning the appointment of Mr. John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

As I have previously outlined, I appointed Mr. McNulty and Ms Sheila O'Regan to the board of IMMA on Friday, 12 September 2014. I made the appointments while being particularly conscious of the balance of talent, experience and skills among board members, as well as regional balance. Both Mr. McNulty and Ms O'Regan were appointed based on merit.

Senator Byrne has asked me to outline the circumstances behind the appointment of Mr. McNulty in particular. As I stated last week, Fine Gael party officials made me aware of John McNulty's interest in serving on a board under my remit. I looked at his experience in business, culture and promoting the Irish language and I made the decision that he could make a positive contribution to the board of IMMA. I stand over that decision.

There has been considerable focus - the Senator has mentioned it here this evening - on the Fine Gael official involved. I do not see any benefit in making a scapegoat out of a party official by putting his or her name into the public domain. The Taoiseach has taken full responsibility for this matter.

What is most important is that the system of public appointments is being reformed. The Taoiseach has outlined the system of public appointments that is being reformed and has accepted that this entire matter could have been handled better. I accept that it would have been preferable to use the public appointments process. While I stand over the appointments I have made to date, I am fully committed to using the public appointments process in the future in line with the new Government guidelines.

There have been some suggestions from members of the Senator's party that I breached the size limit for the IMMA board by making the two appointments.

According to the memorandum and articles of association of IMMA, the current limit in respect of the board is 15 members. I moved to make two appointments as I believed the two candidates could make a valuable contribution and improve regional representation. As I was advised by my Department that there were six vacancies on the IMMA board, there was no impediment to me making the appointments. As part of the Government's plans for reform, it is intended to reduce the size of a number of boards under my remit on a permanent basis. Legislation is needed to give statutory effect to this change and it is expected that this legislation will be published in late 2015. Heads of Bills are currently with the relevant committee for consideration.

Since making the appointments, I have met with the chair of the board of IMMA and committed to working more closely with him to identify the skills needed on the board. Indeed, I look forward to doing this with the chairs of all our cultural institutions as part of the Government's new appointments procedures. I will write formally to all chairs to ask them to outline the skills sets that best suits their relevant boards.