Candidates for top State jobs don’t have their tweets vetted
Controversy follows Shannon Group chair resignation
CANDIDATES for senior State jobs still don’t have their social media accounts vetted despite a businessman, who made disparaging remarks about Travellers, resigning after he was appointed chairman of Shannon Group.
Aaron Forde was forced to quit as chairman just hours after his appointment was confirmed in February.
Mr Forde had made remarks about Travellers and social welfare recipients on Twitter. He also criticised the Green Party for being ‘clueless about agriculture’.
Internal records from the Public
Appointments Service show an arrangement was in place for vetting details such as employment history, qualifications, anti-fraud checks, and credit judgments.
However, this did not specify social media, according to a copy of a contract letter, which was released under Freedom of Information (FOI).
The Public Appointments Service (PAS) has now confirmed that an extension of the vetting system to include checking social media is
under consideration.
After the controversy around Mr Forde’s resignation, the PAS was contacted by one social media vetting firm offering its services.
In internal emails, a senior official wrote: ‘I wonder do [our contracted company] do this even as an additional?’
In another email, chief executive Shirley Comerford wrote: ‘We had a discussion at board today in relation to this.’
The PAS this week said no decision had been made on more extensive vetting, but that it had been discussed at its last board meeting in February.
It said vetting had taken place for all three candidates who were selected for consideration for the role of the Shannon Group chair. The PAS also said vetting had been carried out on 134 people over the past three years at a cost per candidate of €106, or a combined cost of an estimated €14,000.
Separately, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan was contacted by a Fine Gael TD who said the ‘sorry saga’ did not reflect well on the process for appointing the chairman.
Clare TD Joe Carey looked for an urgent meeting with the minister, saying: ‘The events of this evening are extremely disappointing to say the very least.
‘It is incredible that a person selected for such an important role would have to step down just a few hours after his appointment.’
A confidential briefing note prepared for Taoiseach Micheál Martin said three candidates had been selected for a shortlist by the PAS in December following a public jobs advertisement.
Mr Ryan, along with Junior Minister Hildegarde Naughton and a senior official, met all three candidates in early February.
The note said the ministers later reviewed all three candidates, felt all were ‘well qualified to undertake the role’ and would bring their own skills and experience to the job.
However, they concluded: ‘In the context of the specific challenges facing the group at the present time the best fit was deemed to be Mr Forde.’
Officials then sent the appointment for formal consent to the Department of Public Expenditure and, on February 16, Mr Ryan informed Cabinet of his plans.
The briefing note said ‘issues in relation to [the candidate’s] use of social media’ were brought to the minister’s attention by officials not long after.
It added: ‘The minister discussed the matter with Mr Forde yesterday evening and announced that he was no longer proceeding with his appointment given that his social media use was below the standard expected of the chairperson of a State board.’
‘Below the standard expected’
In a statement, the PAS, said: ‘PAS does not have a policy for vetting the social media accounts of candidates for public appointments. However, for senior-level appointments, a third-party company is contracted to carry out in-depth vetting of such candidates. No decision has been made regarding a more extensive vetting of candidates to date and no further information is available at this time.’
The Department of Transport did not respond to a request for comment.