Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The new agency must be established by legislation, which will be before the House. The governance of the new agency will form part of that legislation when it is presented for debate before December. The Government has yet to take some decisions regarding the new agency. In response to the question of accountability that the Deputy raises, it will be far easier to achieve accountability with an agency that is dedicated to this area with a sole focus, as opposed to being part of a large organisation such as the HSE. In the latter organisation, managers have multiple jobs and multiple focuses. As I said in an earlier reply, we have reduced the number of managers from 34 to 16 and there is much clearer accountability. It is much closer from the front line to management. Gordon Jeyes has made the point repeatedly that accountability is essential. There will be clearer political and front-line accountability because we will not have several layers of management in the new agency. The governance structure will form part of the legislation that I will bring before the House in the coming weeks.

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