Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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384. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the gender quota targets for the boards of State bodies and agencies under their remit; the level reached to date; and their future plans to meet and maintain the targets. [32767/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Ombudsman (which does not have a Board) and the Social Welfare Tribunal.

Citizens Information Board

The legislative provisions governing appointments to the Citizens Information Board are contained in the Comhairle Act 2000, the Citizens Information Act 2007 and the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011. When making appointments to the Board, I have regard to the objective of there being no less than 6 female members and 6 male members.

The current membership of the Citizens Information Board comprises of 7 males and 5 females. There are three vacancies on the Board, which will be filled in accordance with the legislative provisions.

Pensions Authority

The Pensions Authority was established in March 2014. Appointments made are in accordance with the legislation. All three members of the Board are female.

A Pensions Council is expected to be appointed shortly. A Chairperson for the Council, who is male, has been announced, but will not be formally appointed until the membership of the Council has been finalised.

The proportion of women and men holding positions in the Pensions Authority and Pensions Council will continue to be considered in the context of Government policy in this area.

Social Welfare Tribunal

The Social Welfare Tribunal consists of a Chairman and four ordinary members, two ordinary members on the nomination of ICTU and two ordinary members on the nomination of IBEC. The Tribunal currently is made up of one female and four male members. The Department requested the nomination of women for positions on the Board from the organisations concerned to take account of gender balance considerations.

Due to the nature of the work of the Tribunal the position of Chairman is usually filled by way of a recommendation from the Labour Court.