Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the Deputy Leader in regard to the announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the revision of the model for ministerial appointments to State boards. As we are all aware, this revision was prompted by the questions raised by Members on both sides of Seanad Éireann about the lack of transparency in the past. According to his announcement, the Minister wants to provide us with a credible, transparent and robust appointments model, and the information will contain a number of things, including terms of appointment, gender balance and other diversity provisions. In specific regard to the terms of appointments, will the revised model provide for comprehensive information and rationales for the remuneration given to chairs and board members? We do not have a comprehensive list of how much State board chairpersons and directors are remunerated. I have a partial list thanks to the research carried out by our great Library and Research Service team over the last couple of weeks, and I happy to offer it to the Minister or his Department. However, we should have a comprehensive list and, more important, the rationale for any diversity of remuneration on various boards. For example, the chair of Bord Bia receives €20,520 and the chair of Horse Racing Ireland receives €21,600, while board members receive €12,600. In the arts sector, the chair of the National Gallery receives €8,978. All of the board chairpersons of arts bodies receive approximately that amount. The chair of the Adoption Authority of Ireland receives €63,000. The Mining Board pays daily fees of €582.97. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority pays remuneration of €20,520 to its chair. I selected these random examples to demonstrate the degree of diversity that exists. I am not necessarily saying that board members on other bodies do not have comparable qualifications or provide comparable amounts of time to their boards.

The biggest surprise in my research is from the Department of Education and Skills, where there is only one board and chair in receipt of remuneration, namely, the HEA at €7,695. No other chairs or members of State boards in the Department of Education and Skills are remunerated. We must raise questions with regard to the rationale for that and the importance of people who contribute their time and qualifications to State boards in relation to education. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to debate these issues with us prior to the publication of his guidelines. We need comprehensive information on remuneration and its rationale. The Leader must raise with the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues the question of why State boards in the education sector are not remunerated.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for giving me a little extra time. Finally, I ask the Leader if there is any progress on my earlier request for Government time for Committee Stage of the Seanad reform Bill Senator Quinn and I put forward.