The former head of the north’s public appointments watchdog has urged Stormont’s leaders to end the three-and-a-half year delay in finding her successor.
The call from Judena Leslie, whose term as commissioner for public appointments ended in May 2021, comes amid growing outcry over the recent appointment of Mervyn Storey as chair of the Education Authority.
The first and deputy first ministers’ ongoing failure to plug the oversight gap has been described as “lackadaisical” by the chair of Stormont’s Executive Office scrutiny committee.
The umbrella body for the region’s main teaching unions has joined three of Stormont’s five main parties in raising questions about Paul Givan’s decision to appoint his DUP party colleague to the £60,000-a-year quango post.
Mr Storey, who has not responded when contacted by The Irish News, was selected by the minister last week from an initial list of 16 candidates.
The former North Antrim MLA and Stormont minister, who lost his assembly seat in 2022, is a serving DUP councillor and a member of the Education Authority’s board.
In a statement, the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) cited Mr Givan’s description of Mr Storey as “no-one better placed to drive forward our agenda”.
The unions’ body it was “concerned as to whose agenda the minister is referring”.
“We share the concerns expressed in other quarters regarding the recent appointments to key positions in the education sector,” the statement said.
“We in the NITC are committed to working to ensure that all appointments in the education system are fair and equitable, especially in light of legislative change.
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“We are requesting an assurance that those in high office are equally committed to these same high standards.”
Monitoring of quango appointments and any related concerns are handled by the Commission for Public Appointments. However, the absence of a commissioner for the past three-and-a-half years means complaints about appointments cannot be investigated and no audits of the recruitment process conducted.
There have been up to 500 quango appointments in the period since Mrs Leslie’s six-year term ended.
The Executive Office, which is responsible for appointing the watchdog head, told this newspaper in February that the first and deputy ministers would “shortly be considering plans for the way forward” when it comes to finding Mrs Leslie’s successor.
Queries submitted by The Irish News on Friday about appointing a commissioner have so far gone unanswered.
Last month, in response to a question from Paula Bradshaw, chair of the Executive Office scrutiny committee, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly said a competition to find a commissioner was launched in 2021 but that a “decision was not reached prior to the end of the last mandate”.
“We have agreed that a new competition is required,” they said.
“Preparations are currently underway to launch the appointment process.”
Ms Bradshaw said there is “absolutely no excuse for how long it is taking to appoint a public appointments commissioner.
“For the process to still to be at the preparations stage almost a year after restoration is, quite frankly, unacceptable,” the Alliance MLA said.
“The failure to progress with such appointments speaks to an alarming lack of urgency in ensuring transparency and good governance, and I will continue questioning the first and deputy first minister on their department’s lackadaisical approach to addressing this, as well as a number of other vital issues.”
Mrs Leslie said since she stepped down “we have gone from an effective public appointments oversight system to none at all”.
“In such ways are our democratic institutions weakened and our public bodies politicised – it is disturbing to see Northern Ireland possibly following the illiberal trend happening in other European countries and in America,” she said.
“Ministers and departments acting fairly and impartially do not need to fear independent oversight.”
The former public appointments watchdog said she did not believe the first and deputy first ministers “want to preside over a weakening of democracy”.
“So I urge the first and deputy first ministers to appoint a public appointments commissioner without further delay,” she said.
