Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 142: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of expressions of interest or responses he has received to his requests for interests in board vacancies at the banks; the number of candidates who fulfilled the necessary criteria; if all responses will receive replies; the persons who will be conducting the interviews; if the final decision on the appointments will rest with the Government or Minister; if the Government will be bound by any recommendations from any chosen interviewing group; the number of vacancies that exist at the banks boards; and if the Government can ignore all the candidates and parachute their own chosen directors into the vacancies without being subject to the interview process. [11811/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In excess of 500 expressions of interest were received by the closing date of last Thursday 12th May 2011 in response to the media advertisement of 28th April 2011. I would like to express my appreciation to those individuals who took the time and effort to submit applications.

The Deputy will understand that at this early stage it would not be possible to indicate the number of candidates who fulfilled the necessary criteria. All applications will receive due consideration as part of the process of identifying suitably qualified people for selection and have been acknowledged. As the numbers are so high, it may not be practicable to respond individually to each expression of interest.

The next stage in the process is shortlisting to bring the applications down to a more manageable number. It will take some time to go through this level of applications evaluating them against the specified criteria though this part of the process will be undertaken as speedily as possible.

What the Government has sought to do here, as part of its reform agenda and in tandem with its proposals for the appointment of directors to State boards, is to broaden the candidature from which such appointments may be made. Based on the number of expressions of interest received this has been achieved. From a quick examination, the expressions of interest come from a variety of disciplines with the common thread of some financial sector experience. The vast majority would appear to have supplied Irish addresses but there has been some minor interest from outside the country from both Irish people living abroad and non-nationals. I would hope that a number of candidates will emerge from this process that would be suitable for consideration for appointment to the board of a covered institution.

It is imperative that individuals of high calibre and competency are appointed to such positions. Accordingly, it would not be wise or prudent for the Government to rely solely on this process for the appointment of directors to the covered institutions as further qualified people will inevitably emerge from other avenues that would merit serious consideration. The final decision on who to nominate to fill such vacancies must rest with the relevant Minister or the Government but a wider range of candidates, who will have gone through a selection process, will now be available for consideration. This is a major departure, I'm sure the Deputy will agree, from the practice heretofore which was adopted up to now.

It is not possible to be precise on the number of vacancies to be filled but there are a range of vacancies across a number of the 6 covered institutions. In my statement on the Nyberg Report on 20 April 2011, I indicated that I have asked each institution to supply a Board Renewal Plan to include, amongst other matters, a programme of rotation of board members commencing with those appointed before September 2008. As the Minister for Finance presently is the major, majority, or full shareholder or has controlling interest in 5 of the 6 institutions there is scope for the best interest of the taxpayer and the institution to be at the forefront in deciding the number and timing of such vacancies.