Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will be aware that, having acknowledged that €4 billion in savings was required in the last budget, a series of proposals was put forward by a body established by the Minister for Finance, which included that recommendation. It was not taken up on this occasion by the Government. Obviously, there are further adjustments to be made in future budgets and I cannot anticipate the outcome of those Cabinet discussions.

The original purpose for which the Law Reform Commission was established, to modernise our legal framework and to assist in bringing forward proposals and initiatives, has served us reasonably well. There was varying success and varying degrees of productivity, outcome and relevance depending on the chairperson and, indeed, the staff that occupy an organisation at any given time. If memory serves, the commission was established in the 1960s. As a law practitioner myself, I recognise that it has been a force for good in terms of modernising the law. It has done some very good academic and other work in proposing areas of law that require modernisation and updating. Mrs. Justice McGuinness has been re-appointed for a further year so obviously the chairmanship will proceed into next year and she was agreeable to that. We will deal with the matter as a budgetary issue from time to time but I cannot, nor should I, give a blanket confirmation of all these agencies being available in their current form given the budgetary challenges we face.

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