No Place for a Woman
Northern Ireland Women's European Platform
Conclusions
The absence of transparency in how appointees are selected by government is striking. The system relies on people being in, or known to, relatively limited circles at senior levels within political parties and Government. The process is highly subjective in having this as its base, and the absence of clear criteria and systematic approaches to assessment suggests a similarly subjective approach to selection.. The selection pool is self-limiting in a number of ways that distorts the real pool of talent and competence available. One argument that was raised against this analysis was that Ireland is a small country and that the overlapping circles are more inclusive than in other places. However this argument falls when put beside the response that identifying women is difficult. In the light of hundreds of women's organisations of every conceivable type, clearly some circles have yet to touch, let alone overlap!
The nominating bodies generally believe that they operate reasonably effective systems that take account of the need for quality candidates and gender balance. Their systems straddle the formal and informal. They have some explicit procedures, and some good practice is evident. There is also an implicit accountability in the processes of most organisations studied, since assessment and decision making tend to lie with officers who have been elected by the membership of the organisations. However in terms of opening the process to a wide pool of potential candidates all of the organisations would benefit from more explicit procedures at every stage.
An external factor inhibiting the process for nominating bodies is the timing of requests for nominations, which may leave inadequate time for a wide trawl for candidates. However it should be noted that with the exception of vacancies which may arise mid term, or new bodies being set up, most organisations know which bodies they nominate to and the terms of office of their representatives.
Among the deficiencies that are apparent in the system and which to varying degrees affect both direct Ministerial/government nominees and those from other nominating organisations, are:
* The absence of a central register of boards with a calendar of dates of re-appointment.
* The lack of a system of announcement that a board is due to be appointed, other than to invite relevant nominating bodies to propose people
* The more informal procedures used which inhibit transparency
* For Ministerial/Government appointments, that names are sought from an ad hoc and generally small group of people and depend on the extent of their networks.
* The lack of formal criteria or person specifications and 'requirements' may be being applied differently to women and to men.
* Curriculum vitae are not requested as a matter of course.
* The absence of any record of who was considered, how many were considered, and the basis of decisions.
* The lack of guidelines on induction or training for those appointed.
* The lack of any formal assessment of performance. |
