Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Ministers and Secretaries General will be loath to agree to a pay settlement linked to performance. The Minister will encourage change in that regard. Will he also encourage change in the Estimates process, which has come under criticism from the OECD and elsewhere? Last week, unfortunately, he indicated that he had no intention of introducing such change. Will the decentralisation programme, which is a crazy undertaking in some of its aspects, be subject to change if it is so recommended?

The manner in which the Department of Finance manages agencies — by controlling staff numbers, grades and pay — has been highly criticised in the OECD report. Is that up for review under the current process? Will there be a review of the way in which quangos are established? As colleagues have pointed out, the establishment of 16 new quangos is envisaged under the Government's legislative programme. Will we see effective change in the way we deliberate on such issues or will this report, like many of its predecessors in the area of public service reform, vanish into history having produced no significant change?

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