Dáil debates
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Cabinet Committees.
2:30 pm
Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. Since it was appointed on 14 June 2007, the Government has established six Cabinet committees on which I sit. Details of these committees and the dates of their meetings, where appropriate, are as follows: the Cabinet committee on European affairs last met on 17 October 2007 and is due to meet again in December 2007; the Cabinet committee on health last met on 3 October 2007 and is due to meet again this week; the Cabinet committee on climate change and energy security last met on 12 September 2007 and is due to meet again later this month; the Cabinet committee on housing, infrastructure and public private partnerships last met on 10 October 2007 and is due to meet again in December; the Cabinet committee on social inclusion, children and integration last met on 24 October 2007 and no date has yet been set for the next meeting of the committee; and the Cabinet committee on science, technology and innovation is due to meet later this month.
Cabinet committees are an integral part of the Cabinet process. Questions as to the business conducted at Cabinet or Cabinet committee meetings have never been allowed in the House on the grounds that they are internal to Government. The reasons for this approach are founded on sound policy principles and the need to avoid infringing the constitutional protection of Cabinet confidentiality.
As always, questions on particular policy issues should be put down to the relevant Ministers. I am circulating in the Official Report a list for the information of Deputies detailing the primary sub-committees and interdepartmental working groups on which my Department is represented.
| No. | Interdepartmental group | Sub-committees under interdepartmental groups (only applicable where shown) |
| 1 | inter-departmental co-ordinating committee on European affairs | |
| 2 | senior officials group on European affairs | |
| 3 | inter-departmental committee on Reform Treaty | |
| 4 | external energy group | |
| 5 | assistant secretary steering group on the review of the EU budget | |
| 6 | inter-departmental co-ordinating committee on the Council of Europe | |
| 7 | inter-departmental committee on the OECD | |
| 8 | inter-departmental committee on development | |
| 9 | high level group on the Asia strategy | |
| 10 | inter-departmental working group on emergency planning | task force on emergency planning |
| 11 | freedom of information inter-departmental Working Group | freedom of information Civil Service users network |
| 12 | inter-departmental emergency response co-ordinating committee [nuclear] | |
| 13 | inter-departmental committee on public health emergency planning | |
| 14 | national security committee | |
| 15 | senior officials group on health and related sub group | working group on long-term care |
| 16 | senior officials group on social inclusion | senior officials group on disability |
| 17 | dormant accounts — inter-departmental committees in respect of persons with a disability, economic and social disadvantage and educational disadvantage | |
| 18 | high level group on Travellers | |
| 19 | inter-departmental group on sustainable travel and transport action plan | |
| 20 | inter-departmental group on drugs | |
| 21 | high level group on activation | |
| 22 | technical advisory group of the office of social inclusion | |
| 23 | committee of the pilot project for the co-ordination of youth services in Waterford | |
| 24 | ministerial task force on road safety | |
| 25 | inter-departmental committee on science, technology and innovation | |
| 26 | Lisbon Agenda national reform programme group | |
| 27 | cross departmental Team, CDT, on housing, infrastructure and PPPs, HIPPPs | CDT sub-committee on legal issues |
| 28 | inter-departmental group on PPPs | |
| 29 | inter-departmental group on implementation of national spatial strategy | |
| 30 | Transport 21 monitoring group | |
| 31 | cross departmental group on unique business identifier and central business registry | |
| 32 | data strategy liaison group | |
| 33 | senior officials group on climate change and energy security | |
| 34 | inter-departmental committee on climate change | |
| 35 | high level group on sustainable development | |
| 36 | inter-departmental committee on implementation of the national women's strategy | |
| 37 | tax strategy group | |
| 38 | e-strategy group of secretaries general | |
| 39 | assistant secretaries implementation group, ASIG, on information society and related sub groups | |
| 40 | national payments implementation programme advisory group | |
| 41 | SAFE, standard authentication framework environment, steering group | |
| 42 | ICT statistics liaison group | |
| 43 | implementation group of secretaries general | change management network |
| 44 | PMDS officers' network | |
| 45 | OECD high level steering group | OECD liaison group |
| 46 | inter-departmental group on the review of the economic regulatory environment | |
| 47 | regulatory impact analysis, RIA, network | |
| 48 | high level group on business regulation |
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