asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development if he will estimate the overall impact of his Department's existence on economic planning and development by comparison with the normal previous output of the planning section of the Department of Finance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Economic Planning and Development.
16.
The decision by the Government to put before this House the Bill for the establishment of the Department of Economic Planning and Development was indicative of the Government's commitment to bring about effective national development. The functions of the Department and its role in economic and social development were covered at length by Government speakers during the debates on the draft legislation.
On the basis of their statutory functions the Department of Economic Planning and Development are, under Government, the apex of the public service planning system for national development. As part of this system, work on the installation of planning units in all Departments is also being conducted under the aegis of the Department of the Public Service and the Department of Economic Planning and Development. It is now well advanced.
The impact of the Department and the Government's planning arrangements generally are apparent in the development of the Government's planning cycle and in the Government's documents emanating from it—the White Paper "National Development 1977-1980", and the Green Paper "Development for Full Employment". Apart from the more visible aspects of the Department's work it is also closely involved in the on-going process of Government business and decision making.
The fact that the Department of Economic Planning and Development and the public service planning function now have a statutory base renders any comparison between the Department of Economic Planning and Development and the previous planning activities of the Department of Finance invalid. One would not be comparing like with like.
Is it not a fact that under the previous arrangements, when this function was carried out by sections in the Department of Finance, White Papers and Green Papers were being produced? Therefore, the Minister cannot ask us to accept this as being an innovation due to his Department.
If the Deputy wants to talk about the rate of production, the performance in the first year was a darn sight better than the one document produced at the end of three-and-a-half years. The Deputy is adopting a most unusual kind of questioning. Does he want to debate also the role of the Department of the Public Service, which had previously been part of the Department of Finance? Does he want to debate the activities of the Department of Labour, which had previously been part of the Department of Industry and Commerce? I am suggesting that all this kind of thing is irrelevant unless the Deputy has some scheme for the structure of Government, because surely it is well established that during the years the level of activity and the nature and the functions of Government activities change, and as they change so too do the institutional arrangements, so that we observe the creation of new Departments, the restructuring of existing Departments and agencies. But the fact that these changes take place does not enable one to make sensible comparisons with what had gone before.
Would the Minister be content if I were to assess the shift in emphasis represented by the establishment of his Department as one specially for planning, as being roughly equivalent to the shift of emphasis represented by the creation of the Department of the Environment from the Department of Local Government—would the Minister be content with that comparison?
I fail to see the purpose of such a comparison.
17.
asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development how many new posts at professional level have been created and filled in his Department since its creation, by comparison with the previous establishment of the planning sections of the Department of Finance.
There have been no new posts at professional level created in my Department since its establishment.
Does the Department not basically consist of the same officials sitting in the same rooms at the same desks doing the same jobs as under the Department of Finance in the time of the Coalition Government and the preceding Government?
No. The staff were recruited by the usual process from a variety of other Government Departments. The Deputy asked a specific question about professional posts. There is a clear distinction drawn in the civil service structure between what one might describe as normal civil servants and professional posts.