John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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2565. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 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. [20719/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I attach a table which sets out the gender balance of the 12 State Bodies under the aegis of my Department.

I am committed to achieving the Government target of 40% gender balance on the Boards of State Bodies set out by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in 2014 and the table shows progress made so far.

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 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.

In 2019, my Department was a member of the Inter-Departmental Group on Gender Balance on State Boards, created with the aim of accelerating progress towards the target of 40% representation of each gender on all State boards. From this Group, a set of recommendations were published to address factors leading to gender imbalances in the membership of certain State Boards. These were taken into consideration in my Department’s Gender Balance Implementation Plan.

These actions include, but are not limited to; annual reporting on gender balance, outreach to promote awareness of potential Board vacancies, using the Public Appointments Service (PAS) website to advertise vacancies, encouraging the nomination of women for Board positions, highlighting the current gender composition of a Board when making submissions on an appointment and promoting a better gender balance culture.

The Department does not have a quota policy in place relating to applicants with backgrounds from the public and private sectors. Any person who believes they have the relevant skills and experience for an advertised position, may apply. PAS then oversees an evaluation process of all applicants and this process involves an independent expert.