Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I will take this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Mary Hanafin.

The Government decided in June 2007 that a review of the Combat Poverty Agency should be undertaken by the Department of Social and Family Affairs in association with other relevant Departments. The review forms part of the Department's value for money and policy review initiative programme for 2006-08. The review, which commenced in December 2007, was overseen by a steering committee which was chaired by Mr. Niall Callan, former Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and comprised senior officials from relevant Departments and the Combat Poverty Agency.

The review's terms of reference were threefold. First, it was to examine the role of the agency in the light of the emergence since 1986 of comprehensive strategies and programmes for social inclusion and extensive new institutional developments in support of social inclusion. Second, it was to consider the operations of the agency in the context of efficiency and value for money. Third, it was to identify the extent to which newer developments or arrangements may duplicate, overlap or complement the agency's role, report on the ongoing validity of its remit, bring forward proposals as appropriate for enhancement or rationalisation, or both, and make recommendations to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

The review was presented to the Minister on 12 September 2008. The Minister, Deputy Hanafin, is considering its findings and recommendations and intends to bring forward proposals to the Government on the future of the agency in the near future. The Combat Poverty Agency has forwarded its views to the Minister and she will take them into account while formulating her proposals.

See this speech in context