Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following its meeting on 30 September, the Government announced a revised model for ministerial appointments to State boards. From 1 November, all appointments to State boards must be advertised openly on the State boards portal, stateboards.ie, which is operated by the Public Appointments Service. The list of available vacancies, along with a full list of State boards with their members, is available on stateboards.ie. After that meeting, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, commented:

These guidelines set out clearly how the new appointments process for State Boards will work in practice. They will assist all Departments to engage effectively with the Public Appointments Service to draw up clear specifications of Board roles. These can then be openly advertised so that the expressions of interest can be sought from the widest possible pool. The Public Appointments Service will then assemble a shortlist of suitable candidates for the Minister to select from.

Heretofore, that was not the practice. Under the previous Government led by Senator Byrne's party, there was a nod and a wink. This is what the Minister will do with this. He will get rid of the nod and the wink,-----