Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to progress in public service reform, the Minister is considering the business case for payroll shared services across the public service. He stated five different groups are dealing with shared services for payroll across the public sector - health, education, justice, local government and the Civil Service. Is anybody overseeing over all five? He said his departmental officials are overseeing the Civil Service project. Who is co-ordinating all five projects? Is the Minister ensuring a consistent approach? Is five sectors the right way to deal with it or should it be one or two?

Who is on the Cabinet Sub-committee on Public Service Reform? When was the last meeting?

I mentioned shared services because we touched on SUSI payments during Question Time in the Dáil yesterday. Payments were being made by local authorities and VECs, which were funded by the Department of Education and Skills. Three distinct groups were involved in the process, which probably contributed to the mess we have. Who will oversee the payroll shared services implementation because this cuts across Departments and State agencies? Nobody oversaw the SUSI project and it is an understatement to say it is clear somebody underestimated the task at hand. How do we know that will not happen again in other areas?

Will the Minister revisit the issue of allowances?