Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-09
============================================================

Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I move amendment No. 10:
In page 16, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:
“Recommendations for appointment of members of Board
13. (1) A member of the Board shall be appointed by the Government.
(2) Where a vacancy arises, or is anticipated will arise, on the Board, the Government shall, for the purposes of identifying persons and making recommendations to the Government in respect of those persons for appointment as members of the Board, invite the Service to undertake a selection competition.
(3) The Service shall appoint the members of the selection panel from amongst persons who, in the opinion of the Service, have relevant experience of, and expertise in relation to, matters connected with any or all of the following:
(a) human rights matters or human rights law;
(b) equality matters or equality law;
(c) public sector administration and reform;
(d) board management and corporate governance;
(e) industrial relations;
(f) climate or energy systems.
(4) The Minister shall agree with the Service the selection criteria and process to be implemented in respect of the filling of any vacancy on the Board.
(5) A vacancy on the Board shall be advertised publicly and shall include details of the agreed selection criteria for the filling of the vacancy and the process to be implemented in respect of the filling of that vacancy.
(6) The Service may adopt such procedures as it thinks fit to carry out its functions under this section.
(7) A person shall not be recommended for appointment by the Government under this section unless the person is, in the opinion of the Service and the Government agrees, suitably qualified for such appointment by reason of his or her possessing such relevant experience, training or expertise as is appropriate having regard in particular to the functions conferred on the Board by or under this Act.
(8) The Service shall provide the Government with particulars of experience, training and expertise of the person whom it recommends under this section.
(9) Where the Service makes a recommendation for the appointment of a person to the Board, the Government shall accept that recommendation.
(10) In exceptional circumstances, where the Government, for substantial and stated reasons, is unable to accept the recommendation by the Service of a particular person, it shall inform the Service of that fact and the reasons for it and shall request the Service to make another recommendation in respect of the vacancy and, the Service shall—
(a) consider the Government’s reasons, and
(b) unless the Service disagrees with the reasons and wishes to make representations to the Government in that behalf, make another recommendation for appointment to the Board.”.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:11+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09