Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 April 2013
32. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to establish a centralised agency for the collection of all moneys outstanding to the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17862/13]
View answerCurrently the Government has no plans to establish a centralised agency for the collection of all monies outstanding to the State.
In line with our commitments in the Programme for Government and the Public Service Reform Plan, my Department is considering a range of alternative service delivery models, such as centralised services, shared services and external service delivery, to improve service delivery in a number of areas.
Debt management has been identified by my Department as one such function that should be assessed to establish if it could be delivered more effectively using other options. No decision has been made to change how debt management is carried out – my Department is considering all options, including improving existing debt management processes in their current organisations; centralising all or part of the workload into a single body; creating a dedicated shared service (such as the new PeoplePoint HR Shared Service for the Civil Service); and the external service delivery of all or part of the workload.
A Project Board has been established made up of Assistant Secretaries or equivalents from the five organisations (the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Environment, Community and Local Government; and Social Protection; the HSE; and the Courts Service) in scope for this project. A Senior Responsible Officer from the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and a Project Manager from the Revenue Commissioners have been appointed. A request for tender seeking consultants to assist with this evaluation closed on 28 March. Work on the evaluation is expected to commence in the summer.
The ultimate outcome of this process will be a decision for Government, cognisant of whatever findings and recommendations emerge from this evaluation.
