Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 May 2019
237. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the annual cost of running the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service; the number of persons working for the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19427/19]
View answerThe Irish Government Economic and Evaluation service (IGEES), established in 2012, is an integrated, cross Government service that aims to support better policy formulation and implementation in the civil service through policy analysis and evaluation. IGEES is not a standalone service. IGEES staff are an integral part of each Department, adding their skill set to the varied expertise working on policy analysis and formulation as directed by Departmental business plans. The IGEES network consists of civil servants working in policy analysis and evaluation prior to the establishment of IGEES, as well as those newly recruited through the IGEES stream.
The number of IGEES staff increased from approximately 30 in 2012 to over 160 in 2018. The majority of IGEES staff are employed at Administrative Officer (AO) grade. From 2012 to 2016, costs were almost entirely related to pay – for each Department’s existing and newly recruited analysts – and formed part of each Department’s overall pay allocation as presented in the Revised Estimates Volume.
In 2017, an IGEES budget line was established to support the implementation of the IGEES Medium Term Strategy 2016-19. Total expenditure for the IGEES programme line in 2017 and 2018 was €178,111 and €156,491 respectively, while the allocation in 2019 is €350,000. The IGEES programme line supports the delivery of:
- IGEES Learning and Development Framework (accounted for just under 50% of expenditure for the period 2016-17 and delivered a wide range of training courses such as cost-benefit analysis, statistical programming, counterfactual impact evaluation etc.)
- IGEES Research Fund, which supports cross-Departmental research projects (accounted for 30% of expenditure for the period 2016-17 and co-funded two projects on housing conducted collaboratively by the Department of Housing and Department of Finance, which involved commissioning of the survey field work)
- Civil Service analytical capacity building through IGEES recruitment and IGEES internship
- IGEES events including conferences and seminars.
