Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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494. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will indicate, in respect of State boards under his Department's remit, the name of each appointee made from 7 March 2011 to date in 2015; the date of appointment; whether each appointee came through an advertised public application process; the number of vacancies which currently exist on State boards under his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37359/15]

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 only State 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 5 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 to Commandant Lagun being deployed overseas. On the recommendation of the Chief of Staff the temporary appointment of Commandant Syed Shah from 16 October 2014 to 31 May 2015 to the Board was made to cover the Commandant Lagun’s absence. Commandant Lagun resumed as Ordinary member of the Board in June 2015. The position became vacant again in September 2015 with the deployment overseas of Commandant Lagun. On the recommendation of the Chief of Staff Commandant Zdenek Osecky was appointed temporarily from 10 September 2015 to 30 June 2016 to cover this temporary vacant position.

As the Army Pensions Act 1927 specifies that one of the ordinary members must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps, the positions outlined above were not publicly advertised on either occasion. Details of these appointments to the Army Pensions Board were published in the Iris Oifigiúil.

A civilian doctor, Dr. Loretta Nolan, 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.

There are currently no vacancies on the Army Pensions Board.

The Civil Defence Board was identified in the Public Service Reform Plan as a body to be abolished. Against this backdrop, in July 2011 the then Minister for Defence appointed a 14 person interim Board as a temporary measure. 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. The membership of the interim Board appointed in July 2011 is set out in the following table: