Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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444. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the present gender balance of the total members of State boards under the aegis of his Department; if the ratio has changed significantly over the course of the present Government's term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36786/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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There are currently a total of 151 Board Members serving on the Boards of Bodies under the aegis of my Department. Of these 105 (70%) are men and 46 (30%) are women.

As the Deputy will no doubt appreciate it is also a key concern of mine to ensure high quality representation on Boards irrespective of gender. I can assure the Deputy that I am committed to seeking to attain the 40% target for both genders on Boards.

The Deputy will also appreciate that in making appointments to boards I must have regard to the provisions of the governing legislation as regards members' qualifications and other related matters.

The Government adopted a significant innovation in 2011 to widen access by all persons to be considered for appointment to Boards by providing that expressions of interest be sought publicly from all those that might be interested in serving on such Boards.

I wish to advise the Deputy that on the 3^rd of June 2011 I invited Expressions of Interest from persons wishing to be considered for appointment to vacancies on State Boards under the aegis of my Department, which were expected to occur up to the end of 2011. On 9^th February 2012 I invited further expressions of interest from persons wishing to serve on any of the Boards under the aegis of my Department. On 15^th February 2013 I again invited further expressions of interest from persons wishing to serve on any of the Boards under the aegis of my Department.

Notwithstanding this significant innovation, the level of expressions of interest from women has been less than half that of men. Of the 31 applications made in 2011 on foot of the invitation to submit expressions of interest, 10 were from women and 21 from men. In 2012 the total number of applicants was 37 of which 8 were from women and 29 from men. Of the 92 applications made to date in 2013, on foot of the invitation to submit expressions of interest, 27 are from women and 65 from men.