Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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299. To ask the Minister for Defence 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. [46544/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The only body under the aegis of my Department is the Army Pensions Board. The Army Pensions Board is an independent statutory body established under the Army Pensions Act, 1927.

The Act specifies that the Board shall consist of a chairman and two ordinary members. The two ordinary members must be qualified medical practitioners of whom one must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps. The chairman and the non military ordinary member are appointed by the Minister for Defence with the concurrence of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The Army Medical Corps ordinary member is appointed by the Minister for Defence on the recommendation of the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.

The position of Army Medical Corps ordinary member on the Board became vacant in October 2014 due to the deployment overseas of Commandant Adam Lagun. On the recommendation of the Chief of Staff Commandant Syed Shah was temporarily appointed to the Board for the period 16 October 2014 to 31 May 2015 to cover this temporary vacancy. As the Army Pensions Act 1927 specifies that one of the ordinary members must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps, this position was not publicly advertised. Details of Commandant Shah’s appointment to the Army Pensions Board were published in the Iris Oifigiúl on 4 November 2014.