I’ve been busy doing nothing except being a bit ill, not eating a lot and watching Darts and despairing at Israel and the lack of leadership from anywhere else in the world on the situation.
Received an interesting comment today on the Equality Authority Issue (which won’t be going away anytime soon!).
Look at the make up of the board of the National Disability Authority and the Board of the Equality Authority.
See anything of note? Are competent disabled people (or people working in the disability field) such a rare species in Ireland that so many of them have to double job? Are board members in receipt of stipends (€9,000 in the case of the Equality Authority) for both seats?
I’ll let the Cookie Monster entertain you while you figure it out 
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I make it an overall of four: Dr Angela Kerins; David Joyce; Christy Lynch, and Betty O’Leary. I’m not familiar with many of the board members by name.
I found myself wondering who many are/ why appointed/ what they do/ what their areas of expertise (if any) is? While I completely agree with your concern about recent funding cuts, etc., I venture to suggest many of these names mean as much to me as entrants for the X Factor. I know they’re all silent on the cuts, that’s for sure.
David Joyce is equality officer for ICTU so I suppose there is no surprise with his seat on both boards – but of course one might point out that there are loads of disabled trade unionists out there to share the load!
Angela Kerins and David Joyce I already knew about (as MP points out, David is ICTU Equality Officer, while Kerins is a FF yes-woman quite happy to stand over discriminatory government policies).
A quick google of Christy Lynch says that he’s Chief Executive Officer of KARE in Kildare and an occupational therapist by training. While Betty O’Leary is a barrister, though google doesn’t throw up much more than that and her memberships of NDA and EA.
If memory serves, there is no stipend associated with membership of the NDA, though I stand open to correction on that one (I certainly can’t find any reference to such a stipend online).
Hmm, if someone has a job for ICTU, isn’t that a fulltime job (already)? I’m sure he is an expert in equality issues, but is he the only available one? Also, nobody does ’nuffin’ for nothing…
Perhaps I’m being too optimistic hoping for “grandees” on these non-executive boards, who might bring their expertise or, even, promote issues of disability / equality. But having part-time, volunteer board members is not really helpful nor in the best interests of accountability. Perhaps there should be “professional” directors of these boards, whose sole job is to oversee the smooth running of these organisations and promote good causes? The more I think about the situation, the more i think these boards are powerless. Still not seeing any protests about cuts…
It’s important to note that the boards of these organisations are governance boards rather than executive boards (and it’s a structure most public organisations share with most registered charities).
I think the EA board in particular is powerless, but only because they have ceded their own power in return for political safety. By kowtowing to every whim of the Minister, they are looking after themselves, rather then the communities they purport to serve. But looking at the membership of the board of EA, this is hardly surprising….
From http://www.irishelection.com
Ms. Kerins is also a board member of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (another ministerial appointment), a member of Comreg’s Consumer Advisory Panel and a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs NGO committee on Human Rights. She has also served as a member of the National Executive of the Irish Business Employers Confederation.