The performance indicators used by the Department since 1997 are set out in the statements of strategy for the Department published since that date. Given the diversity of the Department's objectives and their impact on all aspects of the economy and the community in general, it would be inappropriate to attempt to draw any meaningful conclusions about the Department and its work based on just five performance indicators. For example, our statement of strategy for the period 2003-2005, which was published in April 2003, sets out approximately 80 high-level objectives and 50 indicators of progress. These were addressed in the context of the Department's seven strategic priorities, as follows: To support sustainable growth and employment creation, social progress and improved living standards through the formulation of appropriate economic and budgetary policies; to maximise delivery of the Government's economic and social objectives through the development and management of effective taxation and public expenditure policies; to develop policies that continue to promote Ireland's interests at EU and international level and which support the social and economic progress of the EU; to promote the effective regulation of the financial services sector; to promote and implement policies in relation to incomes, with particular reference to the public service, which take account of the financial position of the Exchequer and support competitiveness and the delivery of better public services; to support and improve public service management; and to provide an efficient, high quality service to our customers in line with the standards and targets set out in our customer service action plan.
Given the number and complexity of our objectives and their associated indicators of progress, along with annual changes in our business environment since 1997, it would be inadvisable for the Department to confine its strategic analysis of the economy as a whole over the period in question to a limited subset of objectives and their relevant indicators.
