Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 429: To ask the Minister for Defence the names of the State boards the membership of which is determined by his Department; and the date on which each of these memberships is due for renewal or appointment. [24955/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The bodies under the aegis of my Department are the Civil Defence Board, the Army Pensions Board and the Board of Coiste an Asgard. The Civil Defence Board was established in 2003 under the Civil Defence Act 2002. The Act provides that the Board shall consist of at least eight but not more than fourteen members who shall be appointed by the Minister for Defence. The current Board was appointed by the Minister for Defence from 11 July 2011 for a three year term.

The Government has recently approved a proposal to begin drafting legislation to transfer the functions of the Civil Defence Board back into the Department of Defence. This decision is in line with Government policy to bring the functions of many State agencies back into their parent Department. The proposed Bill will, if enacted, repeal the Civil Defence Act, 2002, dissolve the Civil Defence Board and transfer its functions, property, rights, liabilities and other responsibilities to the Department of Defence. Such changes will not have any impact on Civil Defence operations nationally.

The Army Pensions Board is an independent statutory body established under the Army Pensions Act, 1927. Since its establishment, the Board has been made up of a chairman and two ordinary members. The two ordinary members must be qualified medical practitioners of whom one must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps. The chairman and the non-Military ordinary member are appointed by the Minister for Defence with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance. The Army Medical Corps ordinary member is appointed by the Minister for Defence.

There is no specified period of appointment to the Army Pensions Board.

In the context of settling the Estimates for the Department of Defence for 2010, the Government decided that the national sail training scheme operated by Coiste an Asgard would be discontinued as recommended in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure. As a result, no funding was provided in 2010 or 2011. No appointments have been made since that decision was taken and the Board will be dissolved shortly.