Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am disappointed by the information presented by the Minister today. This Government has been in office for eight months, but the Cabinet sub-committee on public sector reform has met only once since its establishment in April. The Minister indicated - possibly prompted by this question - that another meeting will take place towards the end of the month. I do not accept that the Minister could not have dealt with this issue in a more timely fashion. That his Department was not legally established until July does not mean he was not a member of the Cabinet since the establishment of the Government and responsible for public sector reform from the beginning. There seems to be some amount of heel-dragging in this matter.

I recall a reference by the Minister at a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform to various presentations that were made by different people and organisations on this issue. He indicated at the meeting that it might be beneficial for the committee and the Oireachtas to have access to some of the key presentations so we could see what is involved in the process. I am not talking about breaching Cabinet confidentiality. I do not know who made these presentations, but it might be helpful to the Oireachtas to have access to their content.

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