asked the Minister for the Public Service if it is proposed to abolish county development committees; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
49.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Development Committees.
48.
asked the Minister for the Public Service if it is his intention to change in any way the status of county development teams or county development officers.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 49 together.
Arising out of the comments of the Public Accounts Committee in their reports on the 1968-69 and 1969-70 Appropriation Accounts, I am at present reviewing activities financed from the Special Regional Development Fund. This review will take full account of the appropriate role and functions of county development teams and county development officers. The review is still proceeding and I am, therefore, unable to make any further statement on the matter at this stage.
Is the Minister not aware that officers of his Department have asked county development officers to transfer to the IDA?
I am aware that the matter is still under consideration between the people involved. I would point out to the Deputy that this consideration arises out of the unanimous advice of the all-party Public Accounts Committee which drew attention to what it considered to be the wasteful and possibly dangerous duplication between the Department of Finance and other agencies of the State and local authorities, all seeming to do at the one time a number of identical functions, and they sought to have the matter rationalised. I want to give the assurance that nobody at present involved in county development work has anything to fear by reason of any rationalisation that may take place.
Is the Minister suggesting that the county development officers are not doing a good job when he says that they need to be reorganised?
I am not saying any such thing, nor did the Committee of Public Accounts. What the Committee of Public Accounts unanimously said was that there was unnecessary and undesirable duplication of functions which probably led to a duplication of expenditure in some cases. What we are doing now is trying to have one well-organised arrangement instead of duplicating the whole machinery.
The Minister says the matter is under consideration. Can he tell me why county development officers have been asked at this stage, if the matter is still under consideration, to transfer to the IDA?
The sensible thing to do is to carry on the consideration with the people involved and that is precisely what we are doing.
Did the committee specify duplication of expenditure in any particular case?
What the committee said in its report for the year 1968-69 was the following:
The Committee feels that it is administratively untidy and perhaps inefficient to have the Department of Finance involved in operations which seem to be more appropriate to the enlarged functions of the Industrial Development Authority. It also questions, from the point of financial control, the expediency of paying grants from the fund for a type of activity which is clearly within the sphere of Bord Fáilte Éireann, simply because the latter's funds were fully committed in the year under review.
In the report for the following year the committee had this to say:
State assistance for industrial, commercial and social purposes is made available by such agencies as Bord Fáilte Éireann, Gaeltarra Éireann, the Industrial Development Authority, the Agricultural Credit Company, Fóir Teoranta, Roinn na Gaeltachta, the Shannon Free Airport Development Company and the special regional development fund. While the committee accepts that each agency has a special functional area, nevertheless it is concerned lest there might be an overlap of functions. The committee agrees that it is a matter of policy that the different aspects of State assistance should be handled by different agencies competent to deal with them. Nevertheless it is inclined to the view that some rationalisation might be profitably carried out. The administrative costs of servicing these various agencies is quite considerable and the cost of maintaining an efficient system of liaison between them so as to avoid overlapping cannot be insignificant.
That is not very convincing.
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper. Next item, Order of Business.
Would it be in order for me to ask a question in relation to a question on the Order Paper?
Yes.
It is in respect of Question No. 451 which I submitted more than two weeks ago to the Taoiseach and which has obviously been transferred to the Minister for Justice. It looks, from the position it now occupies on the Order Paper, that it is unlikely to be reached this week. I request a written reply to that question and I should like to ask how soon that written reply will be given to me.
It will be given to the Deputy today.
I wish to request written replies to questions 282, 283 and 284. I wish to give notice that I wish to raise the matter of the proposed increase in oil prices on the Adjournment.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply given to Questions Nos. 16, 17 and 18 I wish, with the permission of the Chair, to raise these matters on the Adjournment.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.