Vol. 555 No. 2
139 Mr. Allen asked the Taoiseach the committees, boards, companies or other bodies under the auspices of his Department which were established since 1997 to date pursuant to statutory instrument; the particulars of the statutory instrument in each case; if there are proposals to have the body in question given a basis in statute as opposed to statutory instrument; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17901/02]
140 Mr. Allen asked the Taoiseach the committees, boards, companies or other bodies under the auspices of his Department which were established since 1997 to date otherwise than pursuant to statute or statutory instruments; if there are proposals to give the body in question a statutory basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17820/02]
I propose to take Questions 139 and 140 together.
In so far as the most significant bodies under the aegis of my Department are concerned the list is as follows: the National Economic and Social Forum was re-constituted by way of a Government decision in December 1997 with a new mandate to focus on issues of equality and social inclusion. In the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, it was agreed by the social partners to establish the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), which was appointed in July 2000. The NESDO Bill, 2002, provides for the establishment of the National Economic and Social Development Office, incorporating NESC, NESF and NCPP. The three bodies will continue to work on a non-statutory basis until the Bill is enacted.
The National Statistics Board is established under the Statistics Act, 1993. The Information Society Commission (ISC) is a non-statutory body and there are no proposals to give the Commission a statutory basis. The first commission was established in 1997 and the second commission was established in November 2001. The National Forum on Europe was established in October 2001 by the Taoiseach in agreement with all other bodies. It was set up to foster public debate on the European Union. There are no plans to place it on a statutory basis at this time.
As the Deputy will appreciate, my Department is involved in a range of cross-departmental activities and initiatives, including many groups or bodies which are under the auspices of other Departments. The SMI implementation group of secretaries general was established in 1997. Since 1997, the implementation group has established a number of sub groups covering a range of issues relevant to the modernisation of the public service . At present these include groups on human resource management, financial management, quality customer service, the evaluation of the SMI and communications. The High Level Group on Regulation was established following publication of the OECD review on regulatory reform in Ireland in April 2001. There are no plans to establish any of these groups on a statutory basis. The All-Party Committee on the Constitution was established on 16 October 1997. This is an informal committee, the secretariat of which is provided by the IPA.
