Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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529. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will report on the new procedures the Government have introduced for appointments to State boards. [3572/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The State Boards under the aegis of the Department of Defence when the Government took office were the Civil Defence Board, the Army Pensions Board and the Board of Coiste an Asgard. The Civil Defence Board was identified in the Public Service Reform Plan as a body to be abolished. I appointed an interim Board as a temporary measure from 2011 and in this context none of the positions were advertised, nor was the Chairman interviewed by an Oireachtas Committee. Legislation was passed by the Oireachtas in December 2012 for the dissolution of the Board and the transfer of its functions back to the Department of Defence.

The Army Pensions Board is an independent statutory body established under the Army Pensions Act, 1927. The Act specifies that the Board shall consist 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 on the recommendation of the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.

The position of Army Medical Corps ordinary member became vacant due to retirement in 2011, and I appointed Commandant Adam Lagun to the Board on the recommendation of the Chief of Staff. As the Army Pensions Act 1927 specifies that one of the ordinary members must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps, this position was not publicly advertised. Details of Commandant Lagun’s appointment to the Army Pensions Board were published in the Iris Oifigiúl on 13 January 2012.

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. No appointments have been made since that decision was taken and the Board will be dissolved shortly.

All appointments to Boards under the aegis of my Department are in accordance with the relevant legislation or regulations.