Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of retired senior civil servants and public servants appointed by the officeholder of the day to State boards, authorities and other State-appointed bodies, after being recommended on draft lists submitted by the Public Appointments Service, in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9062/23]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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94. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of senior staff members of his Department or of State bodies under the aegis of his Department who are also on the boards of bodies registered for lobbying purposes under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, or on the board of bodies which have had to disclose that they engaged in lobbying State authorities; if it is intended to issue directions as to the appropriateness of such involvement in these bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9080/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 and 94 together.

Section 6(4) of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 requests each public body to publish a list of designated officials of the body. The purpose of the Act is to provide for a web-based Register of Lobbying to make information available to the public on the identity of those communicating with designated public officials on specific policy, legislative matters or prospective decisions. The Designated Public Officials for the Department of Transport under this legislation are available on my department’s website here. Agencies under the remit of my department are aware of their obligations to comply with the Act. I have referred the Deputy's question to the agencies under the aegis of my Department for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.

In making appointments to State boards under my remit as Minister for Transport, my department operates in accordance with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform guidelines on appointments to State Boards, published in November 2014.

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) has responsibility for managing an open, accessible and transparent system to support Ministers in making state board appointments and it is open to all members of the public to apply for positions advertised on the stateboards.ie website.

Although the information requested by the Deputy may be available as part of the appointment process, under General Data Protection Regulation guidelines my department does not have access to this information once the appointment has been made. Therefore the specific information sought by the Deputy relating to persons serving or those who have previously served on Department of Transport State boards is not available.

Details of the current membership of all applicable State boards are published on the State Boards website www.Stateboards.ie or on the Department of Transport’s website www.gov.ie State Boards Membership here.