Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Everyone is talking about public service reform, but as far as the Government is concerned we seem to be getting more reports than reform. First, there was the OECD report, then there was a task force to implement the OECD report and then a Cabinet committee was established. The Taoiseach tells us there is a programme office in his Department. The Minister for Finance set up a special group which is, I presume, the group known as an bord snip nua or bord slash or whatever the common term. Its purpose is to deal with matters in the public service. Will the Taoiseach give some examples of what specific reforms we will see in six months' time? Will he identify two or three things, clearly visible to the public, that will have changed in the public service by that time arising from all of these reports and various bodies?

The Taoiseach referred to the task force putting an emphasis on shared services and on e-Government. Will the Taoiseach explain what has happened with the website? There was supposed to be a common website for all the public services. It was recommended and approved in 2003 and eventually delivered in 2005, some 16 months late. It cost three times more than the allocated budget. I understand it has cost approximately €40 million to date and now it has been scrapped.

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