Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 88 together.

The Government is committed to a programme of public service reform and improvement. As part of the work in this area, we are looking at classifications and listings of State agencies in order to produce more coherent and focused directories of services for citizens and the Oireachtas.

Deputies will be aware of the Government's plans to reduce the number of State agencies. This radical streamlining is a key deliverable of the Government's reform programme and will lead to a more transparent, accountable and efficient public service.

The Government has also decided to introduce sunset clauses when new bodies are created which will ensure a new body will cease to exist after a predetermined date unless its mandate is specifically renewed; ensure Departments regularly review the continuing business case for all significant State bodies; and require that robust service level agreements are put in place as a matter of urgency by each Department with each of its State bodies.

This work is ongoing and will lead to a more consistent and straightforward classification of State bodies, with greater democratic oversight by the various Oireachtas committees within whose remit they fall. In the meantime, each Department will have details of each of the bodies and agencies within its remit. In the case of my own Department there are a number of types of bodies under its aegis but none of these come strictly within the meaning of "non-commercial semi-State agency".

See this speech in context