Thank you, Chairman. I welcome the opportunity to appear before the select committee as it considers the 2007 Estimates for Votes 2, 3, 4, 13 and 14. This year our discussion will be enhanced by the new annual output statements which provide information not only on the Estimates allocation but on how the resources provided will be put to practical use in furthering the objectives of my Department and offices in the Vote group. This demonstration of outputs and outcomes will lead to greater transparency and understanding of what has been achieved with the money voted by the Dáil.
For Departments as a whole we now have a fully integrated model which links the high level planning in strategy statements to the financial and human resources allocated to implement these objectives. I want to use the time available to me to highlight examples from our output statement which demonstrate some of the achievements in the past year, as well as the priorities ahead.
A total of €43.736 million has been provided in the Estimate for my Department for 2007, an increase of 16% on last year's allocation. This arises mainly from additional provisions made for information society initiatives, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance and the commission of investigation into certain aspects of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. It also represents an increase of 34% on the 2006 outturn, reflecting the significant provision made in both years to provide for completion of the Moriarty tribunal.
The money being sought will fund a range of activities to advance the objectives outlined in my Department's strategy statement. The Department plays a key role in supporting the Government as it continues to progress national priorities, including sustaining a strong knowledge-based economy, balanced development and a caring society, as well as supporting civic life through good government, promoting our interests within the European Union and the wider world and our overriding priority of securing lasting peace on the island of Ireland. As much of my Department's work supports the activities of other Departments, its impact on final outcomes is often indirect and captured in the output of sister Departments. Our output indicators are, therefore, mainly qualitative in nature.
When I spoke to the committee in April last year, Prime Minister Blair and I had just announced our plans to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland. We outlined our shared view that the political climate was right to enable real and tangible steps forward to be taken in the peace process. Following on from our April announcement, the two Governments published the St. Andrew's Agreement in October, which agreement was built on the twin pillars of power sharing and support for policing and had an ultimate goal of restoration of the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland. The election last month was an integral part of that process. The results gave a clear endorsement of the strategy of the two Governments and, more importantly, the parties a clear mandate to restore the institutions. On 26 March we were witness to truly unprecedented and historic developments in Northern Ireland. Anyone with a sense of the history and troubles of this island understands the significance of the meeting between Sinn Féin and the DUP and their unequivocal agreement to restore the devolved institutions on 8 May. Northern Ireland has moved into a new and very positive phase. We are already seeing the political parties making the best use of the preparatory period prior to full restoration. The level of engagement in this initial phase has been very encouraging. I welcome this. Earlier today I welcomed Dr. Ian Paisley to Dublin. We had a very businesslike and friendly discussion on a range of matters of mutual interest. I commended the leadership which he has shown in helping to bring about a new and better future for all of the people of Northern Ireland.
At this important time in our history we must all do our best to put behind us the terrible wounds of the past and work together to build a new relationship between our two traditions. That new relationship can only be built on a basis of open dialogue and mutual respect. I fervently believe we move on from here in a new spirit of friendship. I commend the leaderships on both sides of the community for the parts which they have played in bringing us to this historic point. We have a range of important matters that require politicians on both sides of the Border to work together. The new national development plan sets out the Government's ambitious ideas. I am glad these have been widely supported on all sides of the community in Northern Ireland. They have also been endorsed by the British Government and formed an important part of Chancellor Gordon Brown's recent proposals to help Northern Ireland's economy. I now look forward to working with the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland in the restored North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council, as well as all those areas where we can work together for mutual benefit.
The European and international affairs division supports me in my role as a member of the European Council and Head of Government. The division works in close collaboration with other Departments to promote Ireland's interests in the European Union and in international policy formulation. We recently marked the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The last year has seen further significant developments in the European Union. These include European Council agreement on the Union's future enlargement strategy which will be based on the three principles of consolidation of commitments, rigorous conditionality and communication. Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in January, bringing total EU membership to 27. The June Council will consider the next steps on the European constitution. Ireland remains committed to the constitutional treaty, believing it to represent the best achievable deal for the European Union. The reality, however, is that changes are likely.
EU Transport Ministers recently gave their support to an agreement which will allow EU airlines to fly to any city in the United States and US airlines to fly anywhere in Europe. Aer Lingus - one of the first carriers to react to the move - has already announced new routes from Dublin to San Francisco, Orlando and Washington.
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and requires a global approach and recognition that now, not later, is the time to take action. At the recent European Council the Heads of Government agreed that we must continue to show leadership to the rest of the world in the drive to solve this problem. Ambitious targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions have been set, as well as a binding target of 20% for renewable energy.
The interdepartmental co-ordinating committee on European affairs has put considerable effort into ensuring the timely and correct transposition of EU directives. My Department is developing a database for the monitoring and co-ordination of transposition across all Departments. Work is at an advanced stage and it is hoped the system will be up and running by the end of June.
My Department co-ordinates Ireland's activities in progressing the goals of the Lisbon Agenda. Following its re-launch as a partnership for growth and employment, each member state has prepared a national reform programme, covering macro-economic, micro-economic and employment policies. My Department co-ordinates preparation of Ireland's national reform programme and annual progress reports on its implementation.
On the international side, my Department's main interests are bilateral external relations, relations with international bodies and trade development. In January I led a successful trade mission to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This visit recognised the growing trade links between Ireland and the region and provided an opportunity to further develop bilateral relations and promote Irish economic links with the region. Once again, the trade mission was an all-Ireland event, reflecting the increasing co-operation among companies and business organisations across the island of Ireland. As part of Ireland's strategic approach to further developing our bilateral political, economic and cultural relations, I continue to meet our international partners in support of inward and outward economic and investment opportunities and the maintenance of cordial international relations.
The Government's economic strategy continues to deliver strong results. The performance of the economy remains the envy of the rest of Europe, not least in the context of the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth. Employment growth remains strong despite headlines to the contrary, with 4.4% growth last year and further growth projected for this year. Unemployment remains exceptionally low at 4.2%. GDP grew by an estimated 5.4% last year and is projected to grow by 5.3% this year. These are impressive figures by any standards.
We are also investing substantially right across the economy and society. The new national development plan, launched in January, maps out an ambitious, but necessary and realistic, investment programme for the next seven years. This will see substantial progress in many key areas. For example, we will continue to support major upgrading of the road network and public transport system, as mapped out under Transport 21. The NDP also provides the investment framework to give effect to the strategy for science, technology and innovation as a key driver of our move to increase the added-value of the workforce and economy. For the first time, it provides substantial resources to address social inclusion.
The economic and social policy division works with other Departments and agencies in preparing the ground and providing support for major decisions that require a "whole of Government" perspective. The division convenes the cross-departmental team on housing, infrastructure and public private partnerships and the senior officials groups on social inclusion and health which support Cabinet committees which I chair. These structures play an important role in assisting the preparation of policy decisions in key cross-cutting areas such as energy and climate change. The division also works with the Central Statistics Office in promoting the use of statistics in evidence-based policymaking.
The Department plays a critical role in maintaining and developing social partnership. Last year lengthy negotiations led to the ground-breaking ten year framework agreement, Towards 2016. Recognising the importance of longer term policy issues facing the country, it introduced a new life-cycle approach to the delivery of services that will enable more efficient and effective responses to the needs of citizens. In addition, the agreement sets out a new round of pay terms for a 27 month period and provides an important and balanced set of measures in the area of employment rights and compliance. Given the difficult context in which the negotiations commenced, it is testament to the durability and value of the social partnership process that such a comprehensive outcome was achieved. We are now pressing ahead with the implementation arrangements for the agreement such as the plenary meeting which I attended in February.
Part II of Towards 2016 provides for the following: the establishment of a new statutory body for employment rights compliance; a trebling in the number of labour inspectors; significant increases in penalties for non-compliance with employment law; the regulation of employment agencies; and new legislation on exceptional collective redundancy situations and dismissals in the context of industrial disputes. The agreement also provides for the establishment of more user-friendly adjudication and redress mechanisms in the employment rights area. There has been good progress over a short period of time in delivering on these commitments.
The National Centre for Partnership and Performance, NCPP, based its activities last year on five broad areas, namely, partnership, national workplace strategy, workplace innovation fund, research and policy development and communication and dissemination. The Government has committed €9 million to a three-year workplace innovation fund that will provide financial support to companies introducing new ideas and best-practice models of innovation through partnership in their workplaces. The NCPP is also working on a national workplace strategy public awareness campaign.
An issue of increasing interest to employers and employees alike is pensions. The drafting of the Green Paper is well under way and will take account of the views of IBEC and ICTU as expressed through their ongoing participation in the work of the partnership pensions review group.
The programme of work of the better regulation unit is guided by the Government White Paper, Regulating Better. I recently published a report of the findings of the ESRI business regulation survey carried out at the request of my Department. This has provided concise information on the impacts of regulation on business and will inform policy-making.
Regulatory impact analysis is a key tool in policy-making which results in more evidence-based decision-making. Funding earmarked for this year will be used to provide dedicated training and expert economic advice for officials conducting these analyses.
A programme of modernisation of the Statute Book is also under way and funding this year will support programmes of reform, including in the area of electronic publication of statutory instruments. This will improve the availability and accuracy of statutory instruments in both electronic and printed format. The Government is also currently steering the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007 through the Oireachtas to repeal obsolete statutes, making this the most significant statute law revision measure ever undertaken.
Good progress continues to be made on the modernisation agenda for the public service. Towards 2016 includes significant commitments on modernisation and change in the public service. The implementation group of Secretaries General, chaired by my Department, continues to co-ordinate implementation of the modernisation programme. That includes a number of initiatives which I announced last summer. For example, a major external review of the public service which is now being undertaken by the OECD. The review has two objectives: to benchmark the public service in Ireland against other comparable countries and to make recommendations for future direction for public service reform. There will be a public consultation process to allow stakeholders and interested parties to contribute their views.
The review which I expect to be completed by end 2007 will examine the effectiveness of arrangements through which Government objectives are translated into outputs and outcomes. It will focus on the connections between the different sectors, including the links between Departments-offices and the local government, health, education and justice sectors, with a particular focus on delivery of quality public services.
Complementing the OECD review, the Government has approved a new organisational review programme. This will be a series of ongoing health checks to review each Department's or office's structures, capacities, procedures and leadership capabilities. The programme will help to reassure us about their overall performance, as well as provide practical support for future improvement. The process will have elements of peer review and external participation and will be led by the Secretary General to the Government.
Work is continuing on change and modernisation of systems and ongoing improvements are being made through the quality customer service initiative. We have also been actively encouraging all Departments to improve and promote their complaints and appeals procedures. The results of our ongoing customer surveys are encouraging. Some 79% of the public state they are fairly or very satisfied with the service provided by Civil Service while for the business community this approval rating is higher at 81%. There is more to be done to meet the needs of a changing society. My Department, in close co-operation with the Department of Finance, has a leadership role in that process.
My Department has an important role to play in promoting social dialogue and reflection about broader social issues. Our role in social partnership and promoting peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland are prime examples of this. Our efforts to promote the balanced commemoration of key moments in our history, as with the anniversaries of the 1916 Rising and the Battle of the Somme, is an important contribution to reflection on our inheritance and identity.
Last year I established the task force on active citizenship, which reported recently and did an excellent job in analysing the health of our own democracy. In the same spirit, I progressed the programme of structured dialogue with the churches and faith communities, which has been widely welcomed and whose inaugural plenary meeting took place earlier this year.
The Estimate for the Office of the Attorney General is €19.220 million, €14.310 million for operating costs of the office and €4.910 million by way of a grant-in-aid to the Law Reform Commission. Salaries, wages and allowances in the office account for €9.971 million. Some of the extra costs arise from the programme of secondment of advisory counsel to Departments - commenced last year - whereby advisory counsel are recruited by the office for training and subsequent secondment to a number of Departments. Once seconded, the relevant Departments meet the costs in respect of these advisory counsel. Six advisory counsel have been recruited, trained and seconded to date and two or three more are expected this year.
An allocation of €1.284 million is earmarked for office machinery and other office supplies and related services. The costs arising include those in respect of the roll out by end April to the few remaining areas in both the office and the Chief State Solicitor's office of the new case and records management system costing €200,000, the maintenance of the office's new human resources management system which went live last December, the roll out of the management information framework and the correcting of errors, reformatting and updating of the electronic Statute Book website and by way of the production of a new CD-ROM costing €425,000.
Much work has been done on developing an interface between the case and records management system and the financial management system so as to enable roll out of the management information framework by the summer.
The contract legal expertise provision of €855,000 includes €705,000 for the employment of consultant drafters which are required in view of the Government's extensive legislation programme and €150,000 for the engagement of contract researchers and a part-time supervisor on the pre-1922 legislation project. The Law Reform Commission is continuing to implement its second programme of law reform, 2000-2007. By the end of this year, the commission will have completed or begun work on all of the identified topics as well as the requests from the Attorney General.
It is engaged in 18 separate projects this year and intends to publish ten major documents. The commission has also taken over responsibility for the preparation of restatements of legislation and of the chronological tables to the statutes. Additional staff have been sanctioned for the commission for which provision is being made in respect of pay, accommodation and other costs. The commission has commenced preparation for its third programme and a number of public consultations are taking place around the country, as well as one-to-one consultations with interested parties.
The 2007 Estimate for the Chief State Solicitor's office is €50.157 million. Salaries, wages and allowances in the office account for €15.495 million. The increase is attributable to an increase in staffing along with provision for payment of increases under Towards 2016. The case and records management system is now operated in most areas of both offices and roll out is expected to be completed by end April.
Some €1.412 million has been allocated to office machinery and other office supplies and related services. Included is the cost of the full roll out of the new case and records management system. The case and records management system is now operational in most areas of both offices and roll out is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
The office has recently taken on new accommodation and provision has been made for furniture, security, cleaning, etc., in the relevant subheads. The increased allocation for the State solicitor service provides for a package of measures to allow for the service to transfer to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as recommended in the Nally report. It is anticipated that this transfer will occur this month.
The Estimate for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is €35.795 million. This provides for the salaries and expenses of the director and his staff, fees to counsel engaged by the director to prosecute cases in the various courts and legal costs awarded against the State arising out of judicial review and other legal proceedings.
I have given the committee but a flavour of some of the important activities in which my Department and these offices are involved. I hope that the new annual output statement will assist in giving a full picture of our achievements last year and objectives for this year and contribute to the committee's deliberations. I would welcome any suggestions the committee might have for future improvements in the presentation of the statement. I commend these Estimates to the committee and thank members for their attention. I now hand over to the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, who will make a statement on the Estimates for the knowledge society initiatives and the Central Statistics Office, for which he has ministerial responsibility.
