GOVERNMENT jobs quango Invest NI has been warned it owes the public transparency over appointments to its senior management board after it refused to release details of the religious breakdown of its most senior figures.
The economic support agency, which has an annual budget of £165 million from the public purse, declined to release the information, claiming it was exempt from a freedom of information request as it could be "considered an intrusion into their privacy".
During the tenure of former DUP special advisor Alistair Hamilton, who is leaving his post as CEO this month after 10 years, there have been 24 appointments to "senior" roles within the quango.
However, despite concerns being voiced at the lack of balance at the top of the agency - which has a staff of around 650 - it is resisting calls to breakdown the religious affiliations of its top team.
Former Stormont Public Accounts Committee chair John Dallat said he and his colleagues had repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of transparency from Invest NI.
"Invest NI has flown under the radar of public scrutiny for far too long, has operated almost as independent body that had been the subject of much discussion by the former Public Accounts Committee in the past," the SDLP assembly member said.
"There is clear need for greater transparency and accountability and that applied particularly to the appointment of those serving on management positions."
Mr Dallat challenged the body's assertion that it has a right to withhold the key information from the public.
"The practice of not revealing individuals where there are small numbers was never intended to provide cover for senior positions in government quangos where a balance must be clearly demonstrated," he said.
"Invest NI consumes millions of pounds of money and the board does not reflect a fair balance of distribution.
"I see only one woman on the board but there is obviously a serious shortage of members from the Catholic community and that surely should produce something more by explanation than a blanket refusal to reveal the make-up of the board."
He said the issue of "accountability and transparency" had been a major theme in the cross-party discussions which were held in an attempt to restore the assembly.
"There has been serious questions and certainly a need for change," he said.
In 2009, East Derry MP Gregory Campbell told the assembly for the religious background of appointments to the Ilex urban regeneration programme board to be scrutinised to ensure "community confidence in the project".
His call came after it emerged, of eight appointments to the board of the Derry firm over three years - two of which were re-appointments - four sitting board members were Catholic, two Protestant and two unknown.
"There is a need to be conscious of the political and religious breakdown of those who apply and are appointed to the Ilex board," he said at the time.
