James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Taoiseach the agencies or organisations under the remit of his Department; the number that have boards; the number of positions on each board; the number of vacant positions; and the agencies or organisations that have boards whose members have an obligation to appear before committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas. [51502/19]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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National Statistics Board

The National Statistics Board (NSB), with the agreement of the Taoiseach, has the general function of guiding the strategic direction of the Central Statistics Office.The Statistics Act 1993 provides for an eight-member NSB.Two are senior representatives of the Department of Finance and Department of the Taoiseach. Five persons are nominated, two by the Taoiseach and three by organisations representative of the users of official statistics and providers of information under the Act. The Director General of the CSO is an ex officio member of the Board.

There are currently no vacant positions on the Board.

In accordance with the Guidelines for Appointments to State Boards (2014), persons being proposed by the Taoiseach for appointment as Chairperson of the NSB may be required to make themselves available to the appropriate Oireachtas select committee to discuss the approach which they will take to their role as Chairperson and their views about the future contribution of the Board in question.

National Economic and Social Council

The National Economic and Social Council (NESC) is an independent statutory agency operating under the aegis of my Department. There are 28 members of the Council as currently constituted and there are no vacancies on the Council.

Section 32 of the NESDO Act 2006 provides that the Chief Officer of NESDO/Director of NESC shall give evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on the expenditure of the Office/NESC respectively and they shall also account for the performance of the functions of the Office/NESC to a Committee of one or both Houses of the Oireachtas.