Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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188. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of appointments he has made to State boards since the move to the Public Appointments Service two years ago, to date; the names of those appointed and the relevant position on each board; the names of those persons on the short list; the date when the short list was provided to him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20071/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware the Government introduced new arrangements to the appointment of State Board members in 2011. Under the new arrangements departments now invite expressions of interest from the public on their websites for vacancies on the boards of bodies under their aegis. It is open to all members of the public regardless of gender, political affiliations or geographical location to apply for appointment to these vacancies.

The Public Appointments Service Board

The Act also specifics that in appointing members of the Board the Minister shall ensure that at least two of them have either or both civil and other public service experience and knowledge and two of them have expertise in human resource management, customer service and recruitment outside the public service that the Minister considers relevant.

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) are strongly of the view that the names of those persons on the shortlist are covered by personal confidentiality and that the public interest is not served by disclosing these names. Furthermore, in their opinion, members of the public may be reluctant to come forward into the PAS process should their names be subject to disclosure in circumstances where they are not actually being appointed.