asked the Taoiseach the progress that has been made since June 1980 on exploring how the commercial State sector can secure additional growth and employment.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Commercial State Sector Growth.
2.
Arising out of the meetings which I held last year with the chairmen and chief executives of the main State-sponsored bodies involved in economic development, a number of developments have taken place. A subgroup of chairmen and chief executives have been meeting to identify ways in which the contribution of the State-sponsored sector in general to economic development can best be increased. They consider that opportunities exist for greater enterprise on the part of State-sponsored bodies including the increased involvement of State bodies in technological industry. Their preliminary findings have been drawn to the attention of the relevant Departments and State agencies, which have been requested to examine and bring forward at an early date development proposals for implementation. This process is a continuing one and the possibilities for additional sustainable growth and employment in the main State-sponsored bodies will continue to have priority in the dealings which individual Ministers have with their relevant State-sponsored bodies and in my meetings with the combined chairmen and chief executives of these bodies.
After the nine month period of gestation which has taken place since this matter originally arose, that reply is a very general one and does not offer any prospect of specific developments. It has only reached the stage of preparing things in Departments and I would ask the Taoiseach has he any expectation that concrete steps will actually be taken in the immediate future or will the matter remain in this bureaucratic maze indefinitely?
I do not think it is fair to say it is in a bureaucratic maze. The chairmen and chief executives are satisfied that the right way to proceed is for each Minister to relate directly to the State-sponsored bodies under his jurisdiction and press them — they do not need to be pressed — or invite them to put forward specific proposals, particularly proposals related to advanced technology, and that process is well under way in the Departments and State-sponsored bodies concerned and they are actively engaged in bringing forward proposals.
Have proposals been brought forward by State-sponsored bodies to the respective Ministers, in how many cases, and when is a reply likely to come which will enable these bodies to go ahead with the work?
There is no delay in the preparation and examination of these proposals. Everyone understands it is an urgent matter and any possible developments which can be undertaken by State bodies to provide additional employment or undertake new developments are a matter of priority.
Those are all generalities. How many proposals have been brought forward to how many Ministers so far?
There are quite a number of proposals under examination in both the State bodies and the Departments.
How many?
I do not have the exact figure but it is a continuing process.
A continuing process of what?
There is no question of a particular State body coming forward with one, two or three proposals and saying that is that. They are expected to continue as part of their everyday operations to see to what extent they can undertaken continuing their activities.
Deputy FitzGerald referred to a particular report that had been drawn up by the chairmen and chief executives of the companies. In view of the considerable expertise acquired by the Oireachtas Committee on semi-State bodies, may I ask the Taoiseach if he will give an undertaking now that that report will be circulated to the Oireachtas Committee — it is an all-party committee — to facilitate the work of the Taoiseach, who is undoubtedly a very busy man, and enable the committee to look collectively at the possible potential of the combined State sector on the basis of this report?
That is a constructive suggestion.
I am not sure if that is exactly a function of that particular committee. My understanding is that the function of the committee is to examine how any one particular State company is discharging its own particular mandate from the point of view of efficiency, accountancy and so on. I am not sure that this particular committee would have any functions in regard to an extension of its activities or the undertaking of additional development proposals.
Would the Taoiseach not agree that this committee have been able to examine with considerable success the effectiveness to date of semi-State bodies and that therefore they could perhaps be in a better position to evaluate future proposals for investment than a closeted State Department or a Minister in private and that, while it may not be their function at present, they could provide the House and the State with a very beneficial service? If I am not wrong they have already made such recommendations in some of the reports they have published to date.
Certainly any proposals which the committee would put forward will of course be taken up by the appropriate Ministers and State bodies. I can see the philosophy behind the Deputy's suggestion but I am not sure that it would not be adding another bureaucratic obstacle to the——
——ones that are already there.
——process. One of the problems that chief executives and chairmen of State bodies put forward is that very often they cannot get decisions quickly enough from Government Departments. Much of our attention at present is directed to that particular area to try to ensure that the examination of proposals on either side, whether in the State company or in the Department, are expedited. It might well be that bringing the committee the Deputy has in mind into the picture might not necessarily improve the situation.
Since the Labour Party welcome the view that has now progressed to the extent that we look at the entire State sector together as one collective entity and not as extensions of individual Departments, and in view of the fact that that view has been accepted in principle, would the Taoiseach not concede that the only body so established to look at the entirety of the State sector is this Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies and it has examined in detail individual companies perhaps with better success than individual Departments and that accordingly this report of the Committee to which the Taoiseach has referred and which exists could most usefully be examined without prejudice to any future decision that a Sovereign Government might take and that there would be no bureaucracy involved in it.
Without holding anything up.
Let them just read the report.
I shall consider that and I might, as a first step, discuss it with the chairmen and chief executives first.
Thank you.