Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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675. To ask the Minister for Health the total number of appointments to State boards since March 2011 under the aegis of his Department; the total number of appointments that have been advertised on his Department’s website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32302/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The nomination and appointment process for boards of bodies under the aegis of the Department of Health is set out in legislation. In line with Government Decision S180/20/10/1424 of 2011, relating to the advertising for expressions of interest in vacancies on State Boards, my Department currently advertises for board vacancies as they arise, where I, as Minister for Health, have nominating rights under relevant legislation. I also appoint members on the nomination of various bodies, again in accordance with the relevant legislation.

There were some exceptions to the advertising process in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, the members of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal were appointed, on the advice of the Attorney General, as these members carry out a very specific role in relation to assessing the quantum of awards under the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act. Another exception was in the case of some hospital boards, e.g. Beaumont and St James’s, where the term of existing members was extended as a prudent provisional measure, to allow time for appropriate competencies required in members of these boards to be set out, given the Health Reform Programme and its impact on hospital configuration. Appointments of the new board members were subsequently advertised.

In 2012 existing board members of the National Paediatric Hospital Board were re-appointed for a 3 month period to allow time to consider the competencies required by board members into the future. In January 2013 four Departmental officials and two HSE nominated officials were appointed for a number of months for the same reason. In July 2013, the Chairperson and 3 other members for which the Minister had nominating rights were also appointed.

The table below sets out the number of appointments to State Boards under the remit of the Department, where the Minister had nominating rights, and on the nomination of other bodies since March 2011 to 2014 (to date), including the number that were publicly advertised and the number of appointments drawn directly from the advertising process. It should be noted that there were no advertising campaigns in 2011, but 34 appointments were made where the Minister had nominating rights.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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676. To ask the Minister for Health the number of chairpersons appointed to State boards under the aegis of his Department since March 2011 that have appeared before the relevant joint Oireachtas committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32317/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy in relation to Chairpersons appearing before Joint Oireachtas Committee is not readily available, but I will forward a detailed reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.