Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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252. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of State board appointments that have been made under the aegis of his Department in 2014, without being advertised; the number that have been made of persons who had not formally applied for consideration of the particular appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46549/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since January 2014, I have made 29 appointments to the Boards of Agencies under my Department’s remit. Of these 16 were within my discretion. A further 5 appointments were re-appointments and a further 8 were allocated under legislation to social partners, nominees of prescribed bodies and appointments on an Ex Officio basis and were not appropriate, therefore, for public advertisement. Of the 16 appointments made within my discretion, 9 submitted expressions of interest. In respect of appointments that are wholly within my discretion, my overriding priority is to appoint the best people available for particular board positions.The credentials of the appointees vary depending on the requirements of the individual posts. I am satisfied however that in all cases, they have the skills and expertise to allow them to contribute positively to the functions of their individual board.

As the Deputy will be aware the Government decided on 30 ^thSeptember 2014 that all appointments (with some limited exceptions) are to be advertised in the State Boards portal, stateboards.ie,operated by the Public Appointments Service (PAS).

Appointees must also meet specific and detailed criteria determined by the relevant Minister as necessary for the effective performance of the relevant role(s) and are processed by way of a transparent assessment system designed and implemented by PAS to support the relevant Minister in making appointments to State Boards under his/her remit.

Guidelines approved by the Government on the process to be used on making applications to State Boards were issue by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 27 ^thNovember 2014.