A Stormont scrutiny committee has been urged to investigate concerns around the “transparency, accountability and integrity” of Mervyn Storey’s appointment as chair of the Education Authority.
The call comes as the former commissioner for public appointments said she would have ordered an audit of the process that saw Mr Storey selected for the £60,000-a-year post by DUP colleague and Education Minister Paul Givan.
Judena Leslie stepped down as head of the quango appointments watchdog in May 2021 but the first and deputy first ministers have yet to appoint her successor.
A spokesman for the Executive Office said: “Preparations to launch the process to appoint a commissioner for public appointments for NI are well progressed and the launch of the competition will take place shortly.”
With no commissioner in place, there can be no audits or investigations into any of the hundreds of quango appointments that have been made since Mrs Leslie left office.
Three of Stormont’s main parties and the umbrella organisation representing the region’s main teaching unions have voiced concern around last week’s appointment of Mr Storey, a serving DUP councillor who is a former MLA and executive minister.
In a letter to the chair of the assembly’s education committee, SDLP MLA Cara Hunter describes the former DUP minister’s appointment as “opaque”.
She says the absence of a commissioner for public appointments had only heightened the urgency of people’s concerns.
“In the absence of a commissioner I believe the only way we will get transparency on this appointment is through the assembly’s education committee and have called for an urgent investigation,” Ms Hunter told The Irish News.
“If we are to have accountability then the minister must appear before the committee and listen to our concerns about this and other recent appointments and events at the Education Authority and within his department.”
Mrs Leslie, who on Monday urged Stormont’s leaders to end the three-and-a-half year delay in finding her successor, said she was not questioning Mr Storey’s credentials for the post or criticising Mr Givan for making the selection, but that independent validation of the recruitment process would “help restore public confidence”.
“There is a huge amount of public disquiet around this appointment, with accusations of cronyism and the politicisation of the Education Authority,” she said.
“The only way to satisfactorily allay those concerns is through the independent office but currently officials do not have the authority to carry out an investigation.”
The former watchdog said Mr Storey’s appointment was “exactly the kind of case” her successor should be investigating.
“Were I still in post I would be asking for an investigation to be carried out because if nothing else it sends out a signal that there are guardrails in place,” Mrs Leslie said.
“Of itself, being a politician should not be an impediment to being appointed to this kind of role but perhaps it may be the price politicians pay in terms of demonstrating that they are not the right people to lead public bodies.”
The Department of Education said Mr Storey’s appointment was “made following an open, transparent and merit-based competition conducted in accordance with the code of practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.”
