Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, has appointed a new Ordinary Member to the Board of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The appointment of Ms. Judith Fitzgerald to the position of Ordinary Member of the Board means that the WRC Board is now complete in terms of its statutory capacity.
The appointment of Ms. Fitzgerald is made following an open recruitment campaign conducted by the Public Appointments Service (PAS).
The Chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission Board is Dr. David Begg. Together with this appointment of Ms. Fitzgerald, the Ordinary Members of the WRC Board are Ms. Ethel Buckley, Ms. Virginija Petrauskaite, Mr. George Maybury, Mr. Stephen Driver, Ms. Sinead Gogan, Mr. Barry O’Brien and Mr. Brendan Mc Ginty.
Appointments to the Board of the WRC are statutory appointments under section 10 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015.
Commenting on this announcement, Minister English said, “I want to welcome Ms. Fitzgerald onto the WRC Board and wish her the very best in this new role. I’m confident her considerable experience and expertise will contribute enormously to the important work of the WRC and the vital role it plays in Irish society and for the economy in general.”
The Board of the WRC comprises a Chairperson and 8 Ordinary Members as provided for in the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The Board has two statutory functions, which are:
- To prepare, in consultation with the Director General of the WRC, an annual work programme for the forthcoming year for the approval of the Minister.
- In consultation with the Director General, to prepare and submit a three-year strategy statement to the Minister setting out the WRC’s planned strategy for the next three years.