The Public Appointments Service has written to candidates for places on the Sport Ireland Board to advise them that the Minister “has decided not to make any appointments to the Board at this time.”
The original call for expressions of interest came in November 2015, as Sport Ireland was being created out of a merger of the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus.
It was instigated by Minister Paschal Donohoe and Minister of State Michael Ring at the time but within three months the country was on its way towards a general election and with the incoming Government the process was stalled.
The last message to candidates from the Public Appointments Service was dated 4th March 2016, a little over a year ago and stated that “This campaign is still in progress but this office has been advised that no appointments to any State Board will be made until a new government is in place.”
Talent
The board of Sport Ireland is drawn from a rich pool of talent consisting of ten members and Chairman Kieran Mulvey.
They include former Minister Bernard Allen; former Chairman of the OPW Sean Benton; Donal Óg Cusack; Communications Consultant Roy Dooney; Mary Dorgan; Special Olympics Director of Sport Frances Kavanagh; John Maughan, Caroline Murphy, Patrick O’Connor and Liam Sheedy.
Minister Shane Ross has decided that this is a sufficiently broad based skill set to govern the management of sport under CEO John Treacy.
It does provide for continuity at as time when the other broad based sports leadership organisation, the Olympic Council of Ireland has been through the throes of change with Sarah Keane and Sarah O’Shea replacing Pat Hickey and Dermot Henihan in the main positions of power there.
There has been no further comment from the Minister on any timetable for a refresh of directors and similarly no public comment from high profile personalities including Derval O’Rourke who had publicly expressed an interest in joining the board.
