Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

321. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation 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. [32764/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In our programme for Government we have committed to ensuring that the rights of women and men to participate fully in society are upheld, and, specifically to take steps to ensure that all State Boards have at least 40 per cent of each gender represented on their Boards.

In considering appointments to the boards of Agencies under my Department’s remit, I consider the following criteria:

- the expertise and experience of individuals

- the balance of skills and attributes in terms of the overall composition of the Board

- the availability and commitment of people to serve on the Board, as well as

- the gender balance of the Board.

Thus, whilst achieving greater gender balance on State Boards is an important goal and one to which I am committed, the overriding objective remains securing the best people for Board appointments.

It must also be borne in mind that certain appointments to the Boards of bodies under the aegis of my Department are made in accordance with the legislation under which the body was established and the provisions relating to Board appointments can vary considerably from body to body. In some cases, for example, the legislation provides for the appointment of persons nominated by specified stakeholders, such as employer or trade union representative bodies and this can sometimes have a limiting effect on my scope as Minister to address any gender imbalances on particular Boards that may be present.

Notwithstanding these constraints, the representation of women on State Boards within my Department’s remit has increased from an end-2012 position of 28.8% to 38.3% - an improvement of almost 10 percentage points. This will rise further to 42.3% once the Boards of Forfás and Shannon Development are abolished later this year as part of separate restructurings. On no Board does the level of male representation fall below 40%.

A breakdown by gender of the Boards of the State Agencies under the aegis of my Department at the 30^thJune 2014 is set out in tabular form below.

DJEI Agency Board Gender Breakdown as @ 30/06/14

DJEI Agency Board Gender Breakdown as @ 30/06/14