Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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228. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the new appointees nominated by him to the Horse Racing Ireland board were so nominated on the basis of specific competencies; the detail of those competencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36735/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is a commercial state body established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, and is responsible for the overall administration, promotion and development of the horse racing industry.

On 30 September 2014 the Government announced changes to the system for appointments to State Boards including that all appointments should be advertised on www.stateboards.ie (operated by the Public Appointments Service (PAS)), setting out specific and detailed criteria for the relevant role. The process of drafting the role specification for a Board position involves consultation between the Chairman of the State Board, the relevant Ministers and PAS, with the Minister having the final sign-off. The details of these arrangements are to be found in the “Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards” on www.stateboards.ie.

I can confirm to the Deputy that the recent appointments to the HRI Board were made in accordance with the Guidelines and that they were advertised on www.stateboards.ie.

The two most recent Ministerial appointees have expertise in corporate communications and in accountancy and risk management.