Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Minister for Defence 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. [49198/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The State Boards under the aegis of the Department of Defence in March 2011 were the Civil Defence Board, the Board of Coiste an Asgard and the Army Pensions Board.

The Civil Defence Board was identified in the Public Service Reform Plan as a body to be abolished. The then Minister for Defence appointed a 14 person interim Board as a temporary measure in 2011 and in this context none of the positions were advertised. Legislation to dissolve the Board was passed by the Oireachtas in December 2012. Its functions have now transferred back to the Department of Defence.

There were no appointments to the Board of Coiste an Asgard from 2009. In the context of settling the Estimates for the Department of Defence for 2010, the Government decided that the national sail training scheme operated by Coiste an Asgard would be discontinued as recommended in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure. The formal wind up of the Company including voluntary strike off with the Companies Registration Office was completed in early 2013.

The only body currently under the aegis of the Department of Defence 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.

There have been three appointments to the Army Pensions Board since March 2011. A serving officer was appointed to the position of Army Medical Corps member of the Board in December 2011. This position became vacant in October 2014 due to the officer’s deployment overseas. On the recommendation of the Chief of Staff a temporary appointment to the Board was made to cover the absence period of October 2014 to May 2015. As the Army Pensions Act 1927 specifies that one of the ordinary members must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps, the position was not publicly advertised on either occasion that it was filled. Details of these appointments to the Army Pensions Board were published in the Iris Oifigiúil on 13 January 2012 and 4 November 2014 respectively.

A civilian doctor was appointed as ordinary member of the Army Pensions Board in November 2013. The civilian doctor vacancy was advertised on the Department of Defence website and the Public Appointments Service website. A number of expressions of interest in the position were received and an appointment to the Board was made on foot of this public advertisement process.