Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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758. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is responsible for all board appointments where such power to appoint persons to State boards is vested in him by statute; if any politically appointed State employee outside of his Department is involved in decision-making concerning such appointments, in particular, if, during the lifetime of the Government, a named person (details supplied) has had any influence over any appointments made by him; if he or officials from his Department have corresponded with that person, regarding the composition of, and appointments to, State boards to which he has statutory power to make appointments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30109/15]

Alan 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. In the case of certain appointments to State Boards, 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.

Information in relation to all Board appointments made since March 2011, the statutory powers required to make such appointments, the responsibility for each appointment and the mechanism used for such appointments is published on my Department’s website and is available at the following link: www.environ.ie/en/Publications/CorporateServices/TransparencyData/FileDownLoad,42058,en.pdf.

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.

Under the revised model expressions of interest are now made directly by registering on Stateboards.ie. My Department’s website has been amended to refer any interested party to the Stateboards website.

Since 2001 the Taoiseach’s Office has been notified of vacancies arising on Boards in my Department for each year until 2012. For 2011 and 2012, the named person was the contact point for this information.