7 Noll 2011, 17:26
Brendan Howlin TD will attend the Committee of Public Accounts tomorrow to brief the Committee on the Public Sector Reform Agenda. While Ministers do not normally attend the PAC, the Chairman of the Committee John Mc Guinness TD welcomes this step by the Minister which will send out a strong signal to the public service on the need to now move on the implementation of the Reform Plan.
Deputy McGuinness said: “It is important that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform attends the PAC given the role we can play in delivering on the reform agenda. Our discussion tomorrow can take place without going into the policy or politics of the budgetary announcements. The Minister, to a large extent, shares the same goal as the Committee and that is to achieve more effective public services with less waste and a great focus on the customer.
The PAC will take an active interest in the implementation of the reforms and it will be on our agenda as we examine public bodies to see what progress is being made in modernising their organisations. Too often in the past, well meaning reform proposals were scuppered because of a fear of change on the part of senior civil and public servants and because there was not the political will to see through a change agenda.
That cannot go on and tomorrow the PAC will have an opportunity to see how the Minister will oversee the reform agenda. Critical to this will be how we measure delivery, especially under the Croke Park Agreement. Too often in the past success has been obtained by creative accounting rather than by real change that has ensured that value for money was obtained from tax payers funds. We are looking forward to an open and frank exchange with the Minister.”
This meeting will take place on Thursday, 8th December, in Committee Room 1, Leinster House 2000 at 10am.
Committee proceedings can be followed live at:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/Web-Live.htm&CatID=83&m=o
Ends
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Committee of Public Accounts
Membership
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Paschal Donohoe,
Anne Ferris,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross