Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the final question and the procedures in place for the appointment of people to State boards, I have no difficulty bringing forth a Report Stage amendment to the effect that the Minister shall have regard to the existing guidelines and so on.

It is important that the board is allowed to do its job into the future. If the board deems that there is a skills or expertise deficit within the board it can make a recommendation to the Minister for appointment. It would be counterproductive and overly prescriptive to require the board to do X, Y and Z from the outset. Once the board is constituted and operational it may identify a skills deficit outside of which we in this House and the other House will have deemed appropriate. If may take time for any skills deficit to be identified. I do not want to restrict the board from being able to make a recommendation to the Minister in the future regarding the appointment of a particular person to fill a particular role.

As I said in my initial contribution, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is the parent Department for the legislation concerning State boards and appointments thereto, particularly in regard to gender balance and the Public Appointments Service. There is other legislation in the offing in regard to the relationship between Departments and the public sector and so on. We would have no reason to not reflect positively on what Senator Higgins said but I do not want to do something that will unnecessarily tie up a board in the future. I will look at the ratio in terms of internal, external and ex officiomembership, with a view to, if possible following reflection with the Attorney General, setting a maximum and minimum in that regard. I am open to considering if it would be possible to constitute the provision in such a way as to ensure a balance in favour of one rather than another. If I can, I will bring forward amendments to that effect on Report Stage.