Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 October 2012
267. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to his televised address to the nation on 4 December 2011 when he said this week's budget will go further, 50 quangos will be abolished or merged, and the public sector will be downsized by 23,000 persons by 2015, if he will set out in tabular form the names of the quangos that have since been abolished or merged and the date on which they were abolished or merged. [44296/12]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware the Public Service Reform Plan, published in November last year, covered a broad range of reform areas and demonstrated the Government’s commitment to reform and the pursuit of efficiencies in the delivery of Public Services. One of the programme of reforms decided on was to proceed with the rationalisation of 48 State Bodies by the end of 2012. Details of the bodies involved are set out in Appendix IIa of the Plan. While my Department is monitoring progress on the implementation of these measures on a quarterly basis, questions regarding the approach and progress of individual measures is a matter for each parent Department and should therefore be directed to the relevant Ministers.
In terms of agencies under the ambit of my own Department, the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan included the measure that the Commission on Public Service Appointments should be merged with the Office of the Ombudsman. This merger took place on an administrative basis with effect from 1 October 2011 and since then the necessary legislative measures to give full statutory effect to the merger have been progressed and are included in Sections 17 to 20 of the Ombudsman Amendment Bill, which is before the Seanad this week.
