Minister for Tourism Shane Ross has been accused of “absolute hypocrisy” over a failure to use the Public Appointments Service in the recruitment of a new chief executive for tourism body Fáilte Ireland.

Labour enterprise spokesman Alan Kelly claimed “transparency is not there” in relation to the use of a private recruitment company Amrop, in the search to replace Shaun Quinn, whose term ends in December.

Mr Kelly also criticised the failure to have either the secretary general or assistant secretary general of the department on the interview panel.

He sharply criticised the Minister, who “after six months in office has still refused to meet Fáilte Ireland even once”.

Mr Kelly said that before his appointment as Minister, Mr Ross would “wax lyrical” from the opposition benches and in his newspaper column “about quangos, State board appointments and other such issues”.

The Tipperary TD, a former Fáilte Ireland employee, asked if there was an issue they needed to be aware of because of what he considered the delay in making the appointment.

Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan said Mr Ross was considering the appointment of the Fáilte Ireland’s preferred candidate.

He said on October 26th, the authority sought Mr Ross’s consent for the appointment of a new chief executive and for the terms and conditions of the job.

“Both these requests are under consideration and, regarding the latter, the Minister will consult his colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.”

He also rejected criticisms of the use of an outside agency.

Mr O’Donovan said fáilte Ireland was not obliged to use the Public Appointments Service and it was a matter for the agency.

Competitive process

He said the decision to use a private company pre-dated the current Government but “we acknowledge the fact that the processes undertaken were carried out in an open and public competitive process”, including the use of public advertisements.

Mr Kelly claimed Mr Ross was an “absolute hypocrite” if he made the appointment through this process rather than using the Public Appointments Service and that he could have halted the use of an outside agency.

Mr Kelly added that if the department was going to jump outside the public appointments system it “should have a role in a recruitment process to ensure it was transparent, that the best person, the person with energy and vision which are the two main requirements for the role, got the job”.

Mr O’Donovan said “I have no reason to suggest the decision Fáilte Ireland made on the appointment process in this case is anything other than transparent”.

“I have no reason to suggest that it is anything other than fair and I have no reasons or evidence to suggest that it is anything other than a process to try to identify the best possible candidate.”