Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, together.

I have outlined to the House on many occasions progress on the implementation of the OECD's 2001 report on regulatory reform in Ireland and the Government's 2004 White Paper on regulation. The better regulation unit in my Department is tasked with driving and supporting key projects across Government. In this context, it chairs the senior officials' group on economic regulation which oversaw the preparation of the Government's statement on economic regulation. Following the publication of that statement, I chaired the first meeting of the annual regulatory forum on 26 February last. The regulatory liaison group has already met twice this year.

Relevant Departments have been working closely with regulators in recent months to stress-test regulatory frameworks to ensure that they are sufficiently robust to be able to respond to major shocks and changes in their sectors and in the wider economy. A number of potential scenarios have already been identified in the case of each sector and it is expected that the Government will receive a report on the stress testing exercises shortly.

On 2 November last, the OECD published its Review of Better Regulation Systems and Processes in Ireland. The report is available at www.betterregulation.ie and copies have also been placed in the Oireachtas Library. The review was conducted as part of a larger project funded by the EU Commission and encompassing the original 15 members of the EU. It provides a comprehensive analysis of regulatory capacity in Ireland and the processes underpinning it. These processes include regulatory impact analysis, RIA; administrative burden reduction and approaches to the enforcement of regulation; and our approaches to the negotiation and transposition of EU legislation from a better regulation perspective.

The OECD notes that, in many areas, Ireland compares well with its European counterparts but suggests that further efforts will be necessary to improve competitiveness and contribute to economic recovery. Ireland's input into the recent EU Commission/OECD review was overseen by the senior officials group on economic regulation, which has now been tasked with developing appropriate actions to respond to the OECD's findings and recommendations.

The better regulation unit has an ongoing role in supporting Departments conducting regulatory impact analysis on legislative proposals. The importance of this function was highlighted by the OECD in its recent report. While good progress has been made, it is clear there are still problems regarding the quality of RIAs produced by Departments and the extent to which Departments comply with RIA requirements relating to draft EU legislation and significant statutory instruments. This will be among the issues which the senior officials group will look at as part of the response to the OECD's latest report.

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