James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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349. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 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. [12164/25]

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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350. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 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. [12182/25]

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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351. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 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. [12200/25]

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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352. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 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. [12218/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 349 to 352, inclusive, together.

The Department of Transport has 19 agencies in total, 17 of which have a Board with appointments being processed through publicjobs, the Public Appointments Service, 12 commercial and 5 non-commercial. During the period 2020 to 2025 over 206 appointments and reappointments have been made to agencies under my remit. As part of each of these appointments/reappointments and in keeping with the requirements outlined in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016, the Department engages comprehensively with the Chair as part of the development of the vacancy notice form for the position, including engaging on the required skill set which is then included in publicjobs advertisements.

In 2021, eleven commercial entities under my Department were prescribed as designated bodies for the purposes of Part 3 of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014 as a result of which NewERA provides advice to me in relation to the appointment of directors to those entities. In 2023, AirNav Ireland was added to the list of designated bodies.

Under the Guidelines for the Appointment to State Bodies (NewERA Appendix), all proposed job specifications for any vacancy on the boards of these eleven entities which are to be filled via the publicjobs appointment process are developed through consultation with NewERA, my Department, the Chair of the relevant entity and publicjobs. As part of this process, any gaps in the skillsets on the board and the skillsets required for the board vacancy are considered and identified in the proposed job specification to seek to address such gaps, as far as possible.

I would also like to advise the Deputy that my Department requires the Chairs of our agencies to confirm on an annual basis, as part of a comprehensive checklist, that the Board members have relevant skills and knowledge appropriate to the State body and any skill gaps identified are brought to my attention.

With reference to PQs 12164, 12200 and 12218, the information requested by the Deputy is retained by the agencies and I have referred your question to them for a direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.