No new State bodies have been established under the aegis of my Department since February 2011 and there are no plans to establish any.
The National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) is the only State Agency under the aegis of my Department. The NESDO was established under the NESDO Act 2006 and is the body corporate for the National Economic and Social Council (NESC). NESDO/NESC was one of the organisations to be critically reviewed as part of the programme of rationalisation of State agencies, announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on 17 November 2011. My Department carried out the review. The review concluded that NESDO was no longer required and should be abolished and that the NESC should be maintained as the statutory body. These arrangements are in hand in my Department.