Government accused of ‘farewell appointments’ to State boards

Leading Independent Alliance TD Shane Ross has called on the Government not to engage in an "orgy farewell appointments" to State boards as its term in office comes to an end.

Tánaiste Joan Burton faces a two-day motion of no confidence debate in the Dáil, beginning on Tuesday evening, over her decision to bypass a competitive process to appoint former trade union leader David Begg chairman of the Pensions Authority.

“I’ll be asking in the debate tomorrow night that the Government does not indulge itself in an orgy of farewell appointments which is an unfortunate tradition in this country,” Mr Ross said at a press conference with Independent Alliance colleagues on Tuesday afternoon.

“And that we don’t see this as the precursor of a large number of people using this loophole which was built in. They’ve built in a bypass into the regulations to suit themselves.

“They can appoint whoever they want to any semi-State body they want without going through the normal process. I’ll be demanding they give us an assurance this isn’t going to happen.”

Mr Ross, who represents Dublin South, said Ms Burton’s decision was “really appalling”. He said he had no problem with Mr Begg, who he described as a nice and able man with lots of great qualities, “but we’re never going to know if he’s qualified for this position because he’s never going to be subject to the same interview as everybody else”.

Mr Ross said Mr Begg was a Labour supporter and the appointment was "totally and utterly wrong".

Previous appointments

Other Ministers have used an exemption to guidelines for appointments to State boards to make appointments.

They include Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, who appointed Paul Duffy as chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission.

Mr Bruton’s spokesman said Mr Duffy, head of Pfizer Ireland, was independently identified as a person “who is evidently and objectively highly-qualified and capable of effectively discharging the role of chair”.

Mr Ross’ Independent Alliance colleague John Halligan, TD for Waterford, said all appointments to State Boards should be discussed by the Oireachtas.

“I don’t have a problem with David Begg as an individual…but the point is we don’t know if he’s capable of doing the job. The only person who has told us that is Joan Burton,” Mr Halligan said.

Dublin deputy Finian McGrath called the appointment a “blatant display of cronyism”.

Earlier, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said Mr Ross was the only person who had a problem with Mr Begg's appointment.

Speaking on his way into Cabinet on Tuesday, Mr Howlin said the opening up of State board appointments through the Public Appointments Service Process was working well and virtually all State agencies had now “populated” the State Boards website.

More than 4,500 members of the public had asked to be considered.

“In terms of the appointment that now Shane Ross seems to have a problem with, and Shane Ross alone by all accounts, it is when there is somebody who is obviously and self-evidently suited to a particular position, then a Minister...may make that appointment,” Mr Howlin said.

However, the manner of Mr Begg's appointment has also been criticised by Labour TD Ciara Conway who said she did not understand why the Government had rules for public appointments when it was clearly breaking them.

Ms Burton defended the move on Friday and said Mr Begg was a person of considerable expertise.

Fine Gael Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said he understood Ms Burton was entitled to make the appointment. He said he was sure the process behind the decision was correct, “because I don’t think the Tánaiste would have done it if it wasn’t”.

Minister for Communications Alex White also defended Ms Burton’s decision.