John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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822. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the efforts his Department is making to achieve gender balance on all State boards and agencies under the remit of his Department; if he will set out the changes achieved to date on each; if 50% of the membership of all boards, policy groups or agencies that provide advice to Government on matters of policy will be reserved for appropriately qualified individuals from the private sector in order to achieve a balance between the public and private sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20729/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In September 2020, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published an Annex on Gender Balance, Diversity and Inclusionto the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies. This Annex seeks to promote the attainment of the long-standing target to achieve 40 per cent representation of women and of men on State Boards.

The Annex was circulated to all the State bodies under the aegis of my Department, and it is now expected that all these bodies will implement the updated provisions of the Code of Practiceso as to underpin the progress made to date in relation to gender-balanced leadership and to accelerate progress against the targets set by Government in relation to diversity, including gender balance on State Boards. Performance in this regard will be monitored by my Department.

With specific regard to the process of appointments to State Boards, the Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, 2014) sets out a system for appointments that is open, accessible, rigorous and transparent in order to yield applications from accomplished, experienced and qualified individuals who wish to make a commitment to public service. This system makes no distinction between suitably qualified persons from the public and private sectors, in keeping with the core values of impartiality, fairness and ethical conduct.