Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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949. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide in tabular form, year on year, the number of commercial and non-commercial State agency board positions under the aegis of his Department that have been filled from March 2011 to December 2013; the number of these positions that were publically advertised; and the number of female appointments. [1383/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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All positions were publically advertised in line with government policy.  This was not the practice of the previous government.  While poorly-informed commentary and analysis implies otherwise, the government never suggested that all appointees should have to respond to the public advert.  While over half of my appointees have come through this process, I have also re-appointed people such as Gay Byrne (Chairman of the Road Safety Authority) and there is no requirement for them to reply to the advertisement just for the sake of it.

I have, on occasion, approached people to sit on a board because of their particular skills or experience.  Kathryn O'Leary Higgins is an example of such a person who was approached to sit on the board of the Shannon Group. Ms O'Leary Higgins was a former member of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from 2006 to 2009. She also served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor from 1997 to 1999 and in the White House as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet from 1995 to 1997.  

I announced new procedures for appointment to boards on Friday 8th April 2011 and all appointments from that date have followed these procedures. They include an open invitation for expressions of interest in serving on the board of any of the agencies under the remit of my Department.  This invitation was renewed on 31^st January 2013.  

Details of all appointments and vacancies are published on and I currently have a database of more than 500 individuals who have expressed interest. However, given the importance of ensuring the right mix of skills and experience on every board, appointments are not necessarily confined to those who have made such an expression as I explained earlier.  

I have made a total of 183 appointments in total including re-appointments since my appointment as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and all of these appointments were made after the introduction of an open invitation for expressions of interests.  46 of these appointments are women. In every case where expressions of interest are concerned, I give close consideration to individuals who I consider appropriate to promoting good governance at board level, and with experience or qualifications in finance (including audit capability and/or project assessment), law, corporate governance, marketing, IT, or with experience relevant to the transport, tourism and sports sectors.