Written answers

Thursday, 18 December 2014

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Appointments to State Boards

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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549. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government 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 publically advertised since March 2011 to date; and the number of appointments to State boards under his remit drawn directly from the public advertisement process. [49200/14]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Since July 2011, my Department’s website has been used as the primary mechanism for seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced persons, for consideration as members or chairpersons of the boards of State bodies under my Department’s aegis. Positions have, where appropriate, been listed on the Department’s website and, more recently, on stateboards.ie on a case by case basis as vacancies arise. In the case of certain appointments, statutory selection procedures must be followed or nominations must be sought from independent nominating panels before appointments are made by the Minister or the Government, as appropriate. In addition, in the case of a number of boards, not all of the appointments to the body concerned are made by the Minister, and in some situations appointments are made by the Minister with the consent of another Minister. Furthermore, appointments to An Bord Pleanála and to the Board of the Environmental Protection Agency are of a full-time executive nature and are governed by statutory processes.

Since March 2011, 205 appointments have been made to State boards under the aegis of my Department. Over 100 of these were made on foot of nominations by relevant bodies or arose from recruitment processes. 35 of the appointments arose as a result of the submission of expressions of interest or from applications through stateboards.ie.

It should be noted also that, during 2014, the term of office of the Board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which the Government has decided is to be dissolved, was extended to 31 December 2014 pending progress on the dissolution legislation.

The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) under the Companies Acts. The Memorandum and Articles of Association, provide that the appointment of directors is the responsibility of the Board of BGE (now Ervia), with the approval of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. 11 of the 12 directors appointed initially for the period to July 2014, were re-appointed for a further period to 30 November 2014. It has now been decided to appoint a single unitary Ervia Board, with the Board of Irish Water having become an executive board comprising senior Ervia/Irish Water executives.

In line with a recent Government Decision, a Revised Model for Ministerial Appointments to State Boards, brought forward by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, has been put in place, operating through the Public Appointments Service, and will govern relevant future appointments.

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