Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There have been a number. As I said in my reply, there are specific questions to be asked about specific Departments. Questions on the effectiveness of certain regulatory arrangements would be best addressed to the Ministers concerned. On the matter raised by Deputy Kenny, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is leading the project and has measured administrative burdens in its three main areas of legislation that have an impact on business, namely, company law, employment law and health and safety law. The final draft results of that measurement exercise were validated by business in December 2009. These results form the basis of plans in those three areas regarding how to better simplify the arrangements. It is envisaged that a similar process will follow measurement in the other participating Departments.

Five priority areas have been identified by Irish businesses as being the most burdened. These include taxation, health and safety, environment law, statistical returns, and employment and company law. It is in line with the commitment in the programme for Government to ensure direct feedback from business on regulatory burdens.

The first report of the high-level group on business regulation, published in March 2008, indicates a number of individual administrative burdens were measured, identifying over €20 million in savings for business. The group is working across Government to support co-operation between Departments and agencies with a view to simplifying procedures and reducing duplication. This work will continue to result in the reduction of costs for business and identify opportunities for meaningful efficiency improvements in the public sector.

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