Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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220. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is concerned by the number of appointments to State boards under his remit that do not go through the Public Appointments Service; his plans to review the manner in which State boards are appointed to ensure that the most suitably qualified persons fill vacancies that arise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30805/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since coming to Office in March 2011, I have made 41 appointments to the Boards of Agencies under my Department’s remit within my discretion. Appointments and reappointments were also allocated under legislation to Department Representatives, social partners, nominees of other Ministers, nominees of prescribed bodies and appointments on an Ex Officio basis and were not appropriate, therefore, for public advertisement.

Of the 41 new appointments made at my discretion, 28 (68%) were selected from those who sent an Expression of Interest in response to a publicly advertised process administered by the Public Appointments Service in conjunction with relevant personnel in my own Department. Since coming to Office, the Public Appointments Service has administered this process eleven times in response to vacancies that have arisen across a variety of agencies within my Department’s remit. The processes generated a very strong response in terms of both the number and quality of the Expressions of Interest received.

Towards the end of 2013, I adopted what I believe is a more efficient approach to the public invitation of Expressions of Interest. To avoid duplication of effort and to ensure the timely availability of a pool of suitably qualified candidates, I asked the Public Appointments Service to administer a single Expressions of Interest process in respect of vacancies arising in 2014 on the Boards of allAgencies under my Department’s remit. This has produced a pool of over 200 candidates, collectively comprising a wide variety of skills and attributes that have already informed a number of board appointments I have made this year.

I am satisfied that the involvement of the PAS in this process has assisted me in appointing appropriately skilled and experienced people required for membership of State Boards and accords with the spirit of the Government Decision in this regard.