James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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937. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of members of boards in each body under the aegis of his Department who have a professional accounting qualification, for each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12157/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not hold the information requested by the Deputy.

Arrangements have been put in place by each State body to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. The Deputy may wish to contact the State bodies directly in this instance to request the relevant information. Contact email addresses for each body are set out in the table below.

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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938. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to identify, by body name and associated skills gap, any skills gaps identified by the chairperson of that board in correspondence to his Department or a Minister in respect of the composition of the board of the body referred, for each year between 2020 and 2025, in tabular form; to identify any body where the chairperson of that board never identified skills gaps to his Department or a Minister, by year and body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12175/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Any skills gaps that exist on a State Board are brought to the attention of my Department during the process to fill vacancies on that Board. In the normal course of events, the State body liaises with the Department to fill these vacancies, in accordance with the Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards, via a process managed by the Public Appointments Service.

This process involves the setting out of specific and detailed criteria as necessary for the effective performance of the relevant role(s) of Board members. Each time a vacancy is due to arise, the State body identifies the appropriate skills and knowledge required by the Board members, appropriate to the activities of the State body, to enable them to discharge their respective duties and responsibilities effectively.

Outside of the process to fill vacancies on State Boards, the following State bodies under the aegis of my Department, listed in the table below, have written to the Department identifying where additional skills have been required on a Board.

No other State bodies have identified skills gaps on their Boards outside of the normal process of filling vacancies on State Boards.

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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939. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to confirm that for each year between 2020 and 2025 in respect of the boards of bodies under the aegis of his Department, at least one member of the audit and risk committee of that board has recent, relevant financial experience for each of those years; where that is not the case, to identify that body, by reference to the year or years where no so such member existed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12193/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I am responsible for appointments to the Boards of relevant bodies under the aegis of my Department. All appointments are made in accordance with the requirements of the governing legislation and the Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards. Board members are appointed to bring specific knowledge, skills, experiences and expertise to the deliberations of, and functions undertaken by, the Board.

A key element of the Board’s oversight of a State body includes establishing an Audit and Risk Committee to give an independent view in relation to risks and risk management systems within the organisation. Boards of State bodies should ensure that the Audit and Risk Committee arrangements in place are suited to the particular circumstances of the State body, which will vary depending on the scale, nature, responsibilities and functions of the organisation.

Membership of Audit and Risk Committees is therefore a matter for each individual State body and information of the kind sought is not held by my Department.

Arrangements have been put in place by each State body to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. Contact email addresses for each body are set out in the table below.

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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940. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to confirm that for each year between 2020 and 2025 in respect of the boards of bodies under the aegis of his Department, that the board has a terms of reference; where that is not the case, to identify that body, by reference to year or years where no terms of reference existed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12211/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies requires that the Board of a State body should, using its high level functions and duties as a guide, prepare customised terms of reference for the Board.

My Department undertakes an annual exercise examining State bodies' compliance with the Code and, since 2023, has specifically requested confirmation regarding whether a terms of reference is in place for each Board. It is noted that certain bodies do not operate under a governing board structure and therefore the requirement to have terms of reference in place does not apply.

While the information requested is not available for the years prior to 2023, the table below details the State bodies where Boards are in place and indicates whether terms of reference were in place for 2023 and 2024. Information for 2025 is not yet available. However, State bodies will be again requested to confirm that Board terms of reference are in place as part of the annual Code of Practice Compliance Check to be conducted by my Department later this year. The most recent Compliance Check was completed in November 2024.

Arrangements have been put in place for the provision of information from State bodies to members of the Oireachtas. They may be contacted directly for data pertaining to those years where information is not held by my Department. The relevant contact details for each body are also included in the table below.