Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 February 2012
23 Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when he expects to achieve item 1.50 of his action plan regarding reducing the regulatory burden; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11554/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraInternational benchmarking statistics reveal that Ireland imposes a relatively low burden of regulation on business. The Forfás Competitiveness Scoreboard 2011 states that Ireland's regulatory environment is one of the least restrictive in the OECD in relation to product market regulation, the time taken to comply with tax payments is one of the lowest in the OECD across all categories and Ireland's employment framework is less rigid than the OECD average.
The work to reduce administrative burdens on business in Ireland is being progressed on two fronts. The High Level Group on Business Regulation works to fast-track simplifications to specific red tape issues identified by business; and an Inter-Departmental Group of officials from all Departments, having regulation affecting business, drives the measurement and reduction of administrative burdens in a systematic manner, based on the internationally recognized Standard Cost Model.
To date, the High Level Group has progressed a range of administrative burden issues brought to its attention by business and continues to drive progress on further issues. The Group continues to work with business interests to identify new opportunities for simplification.
As far as the 25% target is concerned, my Department has already reduced measured burdens by 23%, a potential saving of €198 million for business. Details of all the initiatives making up this total are available on my Department's website.
The cross-Government measurement and reduction of administrative burdens, towards the 25% target, as detailed in the Action Plan for Jobs, is coordinated by my Department. The target is to be reached by the end of this year. A project to measure the burden imposed by regulation under the responsibility of seven Departments and Revenue was initiated in September 2011. I expect results from the first cluster of Departments by the end of the first quarter and from the second cluster by the end of quarter two.
When the measurements are complete, we will know the administrative burden arising for business as a result of regulation under the responsibility of each of these Departments, as well as how much these burdens have been reduced since the base year, 2008.
Each Department must then draft a Simplification Plan setting out how they will achieve the remaining reductions to reach the 25% target. The first cluster of Departments should report to Government with Simplification Plans by the end of quarter two, and the second cluster by end quarter three.
