Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Morgan lectured the Government on the economy. Were this and previous Governments not required to spend so much money chasing paramilitaries out of the country, we might have had more money today and in previous economically difficult years. However, I am pleased to have this opportunity to support this motion and to join with my colleagues in calling attention to the substantial economic and social progress of the past ten years, including the achievements under the NDP which are documented in the 2007 annual report. There is no doubt we face real challenges both now and in the immediate future but we do so from what many other countries would regard as a very enviable position.. The priority now is to continue to manage the current situation sensibly, to take prudent, corrective action so that we are well positioned for future growth and prosperity. No one is denying that the necessary financial economies will be difficult. It is clear they will require discipline and prioritisation across all Departments and Government agencies. As we discuss and plan the implementation of these measures, however, we must not lose sight of the great extent of the resources that will continue to remain available for the provision of public services. Prudent financial economies need to be made but they should be viewed in a proper perspective.

In the areas under my Department's aegis, we are taking immediate steps to deliver the required savings of €8.731 million in the current year. This will not be easy but with an overall budget in this sector of €2.68 billion in relative terms, this amount is modest, being less than 1%. When one considers the dramatic rise in the Vote between last year and this year — in the region of 11% — this is a very dramatic increase, year on year. With good management, it will certainly be possible to deliver this saving without material damage to the extent or quality of public services provided.

One of the areas highlighted by the Government has been the need to achieve efficiencies between and within agencies, including through sharing of services. My Department has already made major progress in reducing costs by way of shared financial services within the larger justice agencies such as the Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service and the courts. It is estimated that the overall saving to the Department and its agencies has been in the region of €2 million annually. This initiative has been developed further with the Department's financial shared service centre, which operates out of Killarney and which now provides financial services, including payment processing and payroll to a number of other Departments and agencies. As stated by the Taoiseach, the payroll for the Department of the Taoiseach is paid out of the financial shared service centre run by my Department in Killarney. This is a clear example of sharing these services to achieve best value for money. These organisations are already achieving real savings as a consequence. This project has established a proof of concept that the Civil Service and the wider public sector can provide business support services by adopting a highly successful private sector business model. I suggest that Deputies or a committee of the House should investigate the organisation in Killarney because it is a very good template for future sharing of services.

Similar opportunities exist in the field of human resource services, as well as information and communications technology. Furthermore, pooled procurement activity, particularly in respect of telecommunications and energy services, can maximise our economies of scale and yield savings across the board.

All these opportunities are already being aggressively pursued by my Department and this is precisely the type of thinking we will be bringing to the task of achieving the savings required by Government. Individual budget headings are now being examined in each of the justice sectors Votes with a view to confirming exactly where these savings will be made. Expenditure on advertising and consultancy will be heavily pared back under all headings and general administrative and payroll economies will also be identified in each of the Vote areas.

We expect to be able to deliver in the region of €5.5 million of the required €8.7 million savings from efficiencies within the agencies and other bodies associated with the Department and we will be reviewing the scope for achieving future savings on this front. More than 30 bodies, both statutory and non-statutory, are associated with the Department and we intend to take a long, hard look at the function and role of each. We will be asking whether the function continues to be an essential one and whether the role could be performed as effectively by the Department. Where the need for a separate identity exists, there may be opportunities for functions to be merged and the organisational structure of the body will need to be the most efficient and cost-effective. In recent years, where it has been necessary to establish a new specialised public service, my Department has favoured doing so by means of an executive office as a leaner alternative to a fully separate agency. This is a move which all Departments should consider. This would avoid the need to set up expensive separate support functions and structures. Where such offices have been established they have tended to serve to energise and refocus existing resources within my Department.

There will not always be straightforward solutions to be had in each instance, but at a minimum the overall justice sector will be brought to work together to take advantage of its size, pool its resources, eliminate wasteful overlap and face the current economic challenges intelligently and creatively.

By taking this approach we will be able to ensure that what has been achieved in terms of effective service delivery continues to be sustained. Those achievements have been made possible by the enormous investment which has been made in the justice sector over the past ten years. Services to prevent and detect crime have expanded enormously, management of the courts has been transformed and prison capacity has been hugely expanded and modernised, and this will continue to happen. Land registration has been modernised and innovative new approaches have been pursued to manage young offenders. The structures and supports to promote equality in our country have been expanded significantly.

We need to bring a rigorous and creative approach to squeezing efficiencies in all quarters. This drive for coherence and efficiency will not exclude those elements of our national human rights infrastructure where an element of overlap and customer confusion may be emerging at this juncture.

I reiterate my support for the motion and my commitment to managing the considerable resources in the justice sector so that we can sustain our economic and social progress into the future.

See this speech in context