Written answers
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Department of Defence
State Bodies
Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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353. To ask the Minister for Defence 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. [30107/15]
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. There have been three appointments to the Army Pensions Board since March 2011. Commandant Adam Lagun was appointed to the position of Army Medical Corps member of the Board in December 2011. This position became vacant in October 2014 due his 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. Commandant Lagun resumed as ordinary member of the Board in June 2015. As the Army Pensions Act 1927 specifies that one of the ordinary members must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps, the positions were not publicly advertised on either occasion. 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 process.
No politically-appointed State employee outside of this Department, including the named person, was involved in decision-making of the above appointments or had any influence over any board appointments.
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