Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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175. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the gender balance on each of the State boards under his remit, in tabular form. [48556/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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There are twelve State Bodies under the aegis of my Department. The information sought by the Deputy is outlined in the following table.

I am personally committed to achieving the Government target of 40% gender balance on the Boards of State Bodies. In 2016 I wrote to the Chief Executives of some agri-business companies asking them to support women within their companies who express an interest in being appointed to the Boards of State Bodies and to encourage those who may not as yet have considered putting themselves forward to do so.

In relation to six of the State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, some of the board appointments are made by me on the basis of nominations from third-party organisations for specified vacancies as set out in legislation. These State Bodies are the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board, Bord Bia, Horse Racing Ireland, National Milk Agency, Teagasc and the Veterinary Council of Ireland. I actively encourage the relevant nominating organisations to be pro-active in encouraging women within their membership to consider putting themselves forward for nomination for appointment to the Board of the State Body to which the organisation makes a nomination.

I will continue to take every opportunity to achieve gender balance on the Boards of State Bodies under the aegis of my Department.