Labour's Jane Dillon Byrne appointment to IMMA by Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan

Labour board appointee
A labour councillor Jane Dillon-Byrne who lost her seat in 2014 Local Elections was appointed to the board of IMMA only some a week later by the previous minister Jimmy Deenihan Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Appointments to State Boards 10 July 2014.

Dillon Byrne given seat on IMMA board By Daniel McConnell – Herald 30 June 2014

Ms Dillon Byrne was appointed on May 30, days after she lost her council seat on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Her term of office is to last five years.

Deenihan appointed ex-councillor to state board a week after she lost seat in elections by Daniel McConnell - Independent - 30/06/2014

the minister, after the routine consultation with government partners, made the appointment.

Qualifications
I believe she was an art student who was involved in and sat on many arts related boards according DLR CC bio.

...Since then she has been actively involved in a range of public and semi-state bodies, including being a member of the Arts Council of Ireland for 5 years in the mid 1990’s. She has sat on the boards of NCAD and IADT in Dun Laoghaire and is currently a board member of the Pavilion Theatre and the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company. Councillor Dillon Byrne is also a founder and Board member of the Tivoli Centre in Dun Laoghaire, which provides training, counselling and support for young people.

Qualifcations cited by the Minister of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dail PQ 14 October 2014

Jane Dillon Byrne A former member of the Arts Council; she currently serves on the board of the Pavilion Theatre

Public advertisment
Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan 9 March 2011 – 11 July 2014

Public advertisments were for the next 12 months.

15.04.11 Minister Deenihan advertises for Board members for the National Concert Hall, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art; to fill vacancies that may arise over the coming 12 month

It seems nobody was added or replaced in that time despite 67 applications being received..

04/06/2013 Minister Deenihan advertises for Board members for the Irish Museum of Modern Art .doc

Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art; to fill vacancies that may arise over the coming 12 months

Qualifications.

Interested persons should state the Board('s) they wish to be considered for appointment to, their area of expertise, relevant experience and qualifications, and also set out clearly any actual or potential conflicts of interest if they were to be appointed to a Board.

Did Jane Dillon-Byrne do this did Sheila O'Regan do this did John McNulty do this?

Minister Deenihan stating in November 2013 Total number of places on the board 15 Board positions currently vacant 7.

Vacancies arising between 2 June 2011 and 1 July 2014 Irish Museum of Modern Art 3

Who were those vacancies? Eamon Delaney's terms expired in May 2013 and was replaced by Emma Goltz in November 2013 and Brian McMahon's term expired in March 2014 and was replaced by Jane Dillon Byrne in June 2014. So who was the third vacancy?



IMMA board timeline

A number of board members terms expired in 2011 and 2012 but they were never replaced, the board number stayed at no more then 9 for two years until Sheila O'Regan and John McNulty were appointed.

Public Appointments System

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Governance

National Gallery of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Crawford Art Gallery: Summary of Reform Proposals 2012

Appointments by the Minister to the boards to draw on an independent assessment process, based on a published skills matrix to be drawn up by the Minister and managed through the Public Appointments Service.

Governance of Cultural Institutions 26 March 2013

Speech by Minister Jimmy Deenihan Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

To ensure that appointments by the Minister of the day to these boards will have regard to an independent assessment process, based on a skills matrix to be drawn up by the Minister and managed through the Public Appointments Service

New Ministers briefing Summer 2014.

Continue to work on the implementation of the Government decision on reform of the NGI, IMMA and Crawford Gallery -Heads of Bill approved by Government and submitted to Oireachtas Commmittee

I wrote a blogpost on the 2011 changes to the state board appointment process.

Taoiseach on the 2011 changes

Appointments to State Boards Tuesday, 3 May 2011.

Enda Kenny: The Government has decided that new arrangements will be put in place for the making of appointments to State boards and bodies. In future, Departments will invite expressions of interest on their websites for vacancies on the boards of bodies under their aegis. Ministers will not necessarily be confined to those who make expressions of interest, but will ensure all appointees have the relevant qualifications.

Taoiseach in 2011 said vacancies will be advertised even if the Minister doesn't pick from those replies.

IMMA Chairman Eoin McGonigal
Via FOI'd correspondence republished by Katie Hannon for Primetime we see that Eoin McGonigal wrote to the Minister on the Wednesday the 24th noting that he had been told that all future appointments would be made through the public appointmenst process, presumably in a version of this memo from 2012.

Could it happen again, even with the changes announcement by Brendan Howlin?.

Appointments made following from a publicly advertised process since 2 June 2011 Irish Museum of Modern Art 1

Only 1 person, since 2011, I presume Emma Goltz in November 2013.


Media
Cabinet flouting rules on filling state jobs Mary Regan Irish Examiner 3rd July 2014
Despite promises to cut out cronyism, coalition has a blemished record Harry McGee Irish Times 2nd October 2014