I propose to take Questions Nos. 73, 75, 86, 89, 92, 97 and 105 to 107, inclusive, together.
As I stated in my reply to today's Priority Question No. 56, the recommendations in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes represent a set of options that are being considered by Government in the context of the 2010 Budget. It has been well flagged that we need to make serious inroads in the gap in the public finances between income and expenditure. The Report from the Special Group has provided a broad range of measures for consideration by Government in that regard. As the Deputies will be aware, it proposes a range of savings relating to various functions of my Department.Towards that end, it proposes that a number of schemes be abolished or reduced and it also makes specific recommendations regarding agencies under the aegis of my Department and, indeed, the Department itself.
However, I believe that it would not be appropriate for me to engage in a line by line discussion of the various recommendations of the Report from the Special Group, not least because of the work that is in train by Government to frame the Budget. It should be noted that certain areas referred to in the Deputies' Questions are the responsibility of other Ministers.