Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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No. We proposed moving it to his remit. To reassure people, the existing legislation contains a strong public interest test. The review of mergers some years ago suggested a cleaning up of the criteria, which is being done under the new Bill. It will also address the transfer issue. There is a good code of public interest protection. We are pushing ahead in this regard.

The merger into the workplace relations commission, WRC, is progressing well. It is a major change, with five agencies being reduced to two, a body of first instance and an appellate body. We have streamlined all of the allocations and are moving to an online system. We have shortened dramatically the time for cases to be heard before a rights commissioner. From the moment a complaint is made, information is notified to an employer more quickly. We are avoiding having the same complaint sent to multiple agencies. We have introduced a pilot early resolution scheme to remove unnecessary delays by having cases resolved ahead of hearings. I am pleased with the progress in this regard.

Deputy Calleary has relevant experience, but any integration is time consuming and requires a great deal of work by officials to get all the ducks in a row. Rationalisations make good sense and we are enthusiastic about them, but making them work takes a great deal of work. In this regard, I acknowledge the work being done in my Department. The integration of Forfás into the Department is on track, as is the integration of Shannon Development into the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.

I have met the chairman of the Health and Safety Authority. Every agency could find important work to do were additional resources available. Reverting to the Chairman's first question, that we have needed to reduce our staffing numbers has had a knock-on effect. The authority has been effective in using modern tools such as ICT. It has pioneered BeSMART.ie as a way of facilitating companies in complying with their health and safety obligations without incurring elaborate costs. The authority has been at the forefront of trying to emphasise compliance as a part of a good culture and proper business. Many of our agencies are under pressure.

Insurance costs are always a concern. We are alert to them. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, which predates my term in office by a long time, has removed 70% of personal injury claims from the litigation system. It has reduced legal costs substantially. These costs amounted to 46% in 2002, but fell to 8.7% in 2012. The PIAB has had an impact. It monitors issues carefully and alerts the Government to matters of public policy.

The non-pay allocation provides for our preparations for the Companies Bill 2012, as did the 2012 allocation. The previous allocation anticipated work on the Bill. It is major legislation. Unfortunately, the committee will need to carry some of the load in getting through the legislation.

The ICTU grant for education, training and advisory services is performance-based funding with agreed reporting requirements, a memorandum of understanding and the submission of audited accounts. There is a good system for tracking the spending of the money.