Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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417. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide the number of appointments to State boards under his Department's remit made since March 2011 to date; the number of vacancies in State boards under his Department's remit since March 2011 to date; the number of vacancies in State boards under his Department's remit publicly advertised since March 2011 to date; and the number of appointments to State boards under his remit drawn directly from the public advertisement process. [49203/14]

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 the most recent Government Decision S180/20/10/1617 of 2014, relating to the advertising for expressions of interest in vacancies on State Boards, my Department in conjunction with the new Public Appointments Service website portal, Stateboards.ie, 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 have been 504 appointments to Boards under the aegis of the Department of Health since March 2011 to date. Of these, 163 appointments have been made on the nomination of bodies specified in legislation. The Minister for Health has no function in these nominations other than the actual appointments.

341 appointments have been made where the Minister for Health has nominating rights, and 118 of these have been appointed following public advertising campaigns.

Since March 2011, there have been 277 positions advertised. It should be noted that there were no advertising campaigns in 2011, but 34 appointments were made where the Minister had nominating rights. It should also be noted that there are still several campaigns ongoing with appointments pending.