Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, published in July 2009, made a number of recommendations, including, to reduce or discontinue expenditure programmes, to reduce the numbers employed in each area of the public service, to re-allocate staffing or expenditure resources between public service organisations as appropriate and to rationalise State agencies.

The work of the special group resulted in the identification of potential expenditure savings of €5.3 billion in a full year, with associated reductions of more than 17,300 in public service numbers. This was far in excess of what was then envisaged for budget 2010, so the special group's report was viewed as a suite of potential savings from which the Government could choose on the basis of its own assessment of the area of spending involved. In evaluating the recommendations of the report, Ministers and the Government necessarily had regard to the fact that all expenditure programmes confer benefits on various stakeholders and that no proposals for reductions are painless. With particular regard to my Department, it was noted that all three sectors, tourism, culture and sport, make major contributions to Irish society and to the real economy. The recommendations of the special group for my Department included proposals to reduce programme expenditure by almost €105 million in 2010 and to structurally reduce 170 staff across the Department and its agencies. The special group's report also proposed that consideration should be given to the discontinuation of the then Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism as a Department in its own right. In responding to these challenging proposals, savings of more than €35 million were achieved in the Revised Estimates for 2010 for the Department's Vote group compared to 2009. In addition, the Government's moratorium on staff recruitment and promotion and its incentivised early retirement scheme continue to achieve reductions in staff numbers across my Department and its agencies.

In March 2010, the Government made structural re-alignments to a number of Departments. As part of these re-alignments, the former Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism was restructured as the current Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, with an enhanced focus on maximising the benefits to Ireland in financial and other terms of both our tourism product and our cultural and sporting heritage. In addition, responsibility for the horse and greyhound racing industries was transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

In preparing for budget 2011, all possible measures are being considered to ensure that the proposed budget adjustment of €6 billion is achieved, including the outstanding recommendations of the report of the special group. In addition, the ongoing implementation of the Croke Park agreement in my Department and across the public service has led to the identification of a range of potential savings. While it is clearly not possible for me to reveal the details of what may be announced in budget 2011, my objective is to ensure that an appropriate level of resources is provided to ensure the continued and successful development of the three important sectors for which I have responsibility.

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