Dáil debates

Wednesday, 21 June 2006

Priority Questions.

Departmental Offices.

1:00 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of offices and agencies operating within his Department; the functions with which they are charged; and the budgetary allocation afforded to each. [24135/06]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are currently ten agencies and 12 offices operating under the aegis of my Department. Their functions and budgetary allocations for 2006 are as outlined in the following tables.

Agencies
Name of Organisation Functions Budgetary Allocation 2006
Forfás Forfás is the national policy and advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation. The broad functions of Forfás are to advise the Minister on matters relating to the development of industry in the State; advise on the development and co-ordination of policy for Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and such other bodies (established or under statute) as the Minister may, by order, designate; encourage the development of industry, technology, marketing and human resources in the State; encourage the establishment and development in the State of industrial undertakings from outside the State; and advise and co-ordinate Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland in regard to their functions 35,351,000
FÁS FÁS is Ireland's National Training and Employment Authority. The function of FÁS is to provide training and re-training in and for employment; recruitment service; employment schemes; placement and guidance services; assistance to community groups; advice for people returning to Ireland, those seeking employment in Ireland or elsewhere in the EU; information, advice or research on labour market issues. 974,375,000
Health and Safety Authority The Health and Safety Authority is the national statutory body charged with responsibility for the enforcement of occupational safety and health law; the promotion and encouragement of accident prevention; and the provision of information, advice and research. The authority is a state-sponsored body, established under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, formerly known as the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH). Since the passing in 2005 of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 the authority's remit is now based on the provisions of that Act. 20,598,000
The Industrial Development Agency Ireland (IDA Ireland) The functions of IDA Ireland are to promote the establishment and development, in the State, of industrial undertakings from outside the State; to make investments in and provide supports to industrial undertakings which comply with the requirements of the enactments for the time being in force; to administer such schemes, grants and other financial facilities requiring the disbursement of European Community funds as may from time to time be authorised by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance; and to carry out such other functions as may from time to time be assigned to it by Forfás with the consent of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. 139,218,000
Enterprise Ireland (EI) EI is the Irish State development agency focused on transforming Irish industry. The mission of EI is "To accelerate the development of world-class Irish companies to achieve strong positions in global markets resulting in increased national and regional prosperity". 258,559,000
SFADCo (Shannon Development) SFADCo is responsible for industrial and tourism development in the mid-west region. Its primary focus is to lead and encourage the identification and development of solutions to the critical needs or obstacles to development in the region. SFADCo supports firms, which either currently or are likely to achieve significant sales growth of €1.3m and employ in excess of ten people within three years of start-up. 3,400,000
National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) The NSAI is Ireland's Standards body. NSAI facilitates the development of voluntary standard documents which manufacturers or service providers may use as an aid to meeting safety or customer requirements. The functions of NSAI are specifically detailed within NSAI and legal metrology legislation. In summary NSAI operates the following functions: 6,891,000
The 35 county and city enterprise boards (CEBs) The 35 CEBs were set up in 1993 to meet a need which was identified for support targeted specifically at the micro-enterprise sector. The CEBs develop indigenous enterprise potential and stimulate economic activity at local level. CEB interventions are targeted at projects in the manufacturing and traded services sectors employing ten or fewer workers. 31,180,000
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) The function of the SFI is to build and strengthen scientific and engineering research and its infrastructure in the areas of greatest strategic value to Ireland's long-term competitiveness and development. 149,435,622
Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) The PIAB is an independent statutory body. Its function is to assess the amount of compensation due to a person who has suffered a personal injury. The PIAB's operational costs are funded by fees levied on claimants and respondents
Offices
Name of Organisation Functions Budgetary Allocation 2006
Patents Office The main statutory functions of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks are concerned with the granting of patents and the registration of trade marks and designs and the administration and maintenance of these industrial property rights. The controller also has certain statutory functions under the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. Nil.
Labour Relations Commission The Labour Relations Commission has general responsibility for the promotion of good industrial relations through the provision of a comprehensive range of services designed to help prevent and resolve disputes. The commission provides an industrial relations conciliation service; an industrial relations advisory development and research service (ADRS); and a rights commissioner service. 5,012,000
The Labour Court The Labour Court provides a comprehensive service for the resolution of disputes regarding industrial relations, equality, organisation of working time, national minimum wage, part-time work and fixed-term work matters. 3,464,000
Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA) The Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs was established under the Consumer Information Act 1978. The director is an independent statutory officer, responsible for enforcing a wide spectrum of consumer protection legislation, including the power to seek court orders and to prosecute for breaches of the Consumer Information Act, consumer credit, package travel, food and textile labelling, price display orders, product pricing, unfair terms in consumer contracts and product safety legislation. 4,289,000
National Consumer Agency (board acting in an interim capacity until such time as the agency is established on a statutory basis) The function of the National Consumer Agency is the promotion and protection of consumer interests including advocacy, enforcement, education and awareness, information and research. 3,000,000
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is responsible for encouraging compliance with the Companies Acts and investigation and enforcing suspected breaches of the legislation. 4,713,000
Competition Authority The Competition Authority is an independent statutory body responsible for enforcing competition law in the State. 5,831,000
Companies Registration Office The functions of the Companies Registration Office (CRO) are 9,308,000
Registry of Friendly Societies (RFS) The functions of the RFS are: The (RFS) is included in the main Vote of the Department. It does not have a separate Vote
Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) The function of the EAT is to adjudicate, process and hear claims in employment rights disputes. (The running of the Employment Appeals Tribunal is funded under the administrative budget of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)
InterTradeIreland, The Trade and Business Development Body InterTradeIreland was established in December 1999 to promote all-island trade and business development. The statutory functions of InterTradeIreland are set down in the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999, which defines the body as one "to exchange information and co-ordinate work on trade, business development and related matters in areas where the two administrations specifically agree it would be in their mutual interest". 10,025,000
Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority The function of the IAASA is to supervise the regulation by the accountancy bodies of their members. IAASA has a wide range of oversight functions in relation to accountancy bodies including the power to 919,000

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It kind of makes my point about the black economy.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In what way?

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Department has primary responsibility for it rather than the Revenue Commissioners.

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It is interesting and has perhaps confirmed my point that in response to each priority question we have been referring constantly to independent bodies in which the Minister has no role. In certain cases, there is confusion over which body has authority. I asked my question on the back of a report by TASC entitled Outsourcing Government: Public Bodies and Accountability. It raised real concerns about the level of outsourcing, which is sometimes appropriate, and also about the lack of accountability under this process. I noticed in particular that 90% of the budget of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was allocated to outside agencies. This contrasts with other Departments and TASC's assessment clashes with that of the Minister. We can go through the details ourselves at a later stage.

TASC states that of the 29 public bodies in the Minister's Department, only 15 are listed in the budgetary Estimates and only 14 were established by the Oireachtas. Does the Minister agree with the concerns over there being 450 such bodies involving 500 appointments by the Government? There is a lack of accountability and clarity regarding the agencies that exist, their remit and the source of their money. Does the Minister not agree that there is a need for a full review of our procedures for setting up public bodies so their appointees will not be regarded solely as cronies of members of whatever party is in power? Does he agree that financing should be utterly transparent and that there should be accountability to the Oireachtas so our democracy will not be diminished due to massive outsourcing of Government activities, which has become increasingly prevalent in the past ten years? This is what the TASC report concludes.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is wrong to use the term "outsourcing" in respect of the establishment of State agencies to carry out specific functions designated thereto by the Executive and Oireachtas. It is improper to use the term in respect of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and FÁS, for example.

On the question of there being a lack of political accountability, we must be careful at all times to ensure there is strong accountability to Parliament. We could always consider mechanisms to determine how to facilitate such accountability more effectively without intervening too much in the operations and activities of the State agencies. There were far more agencies in my Department when I was Minister for Health and Children and I took the decision to amalgamate quite a number of them into one national delivery service. This was after a very considered review and analysis by consultants and various other people.

The enterprise strategy group considered the future of industrial strategy. It did not recommend the amalgamation of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, for example, nor did it recommend the abolition of county enterprise boards or other such bodies. These are the fundamental questions that arise if one is proposing a fundamental review of agencies in my Department.

There is a strong correlation between the success of the economy over the past ten or 15 years and the effectiveness of the bodies in question, particularly those on the economic side. Likewise, it is hard to doubt the need for a health and safety authority or the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. Recent events necessitated the creation of such an office. It is also hard to doubt the need for FÁS as a national training office. When considering the existing bodies one at a time, one will not see much room for rationalisation or the elimination of some of them. The National Standards Authority has a particular role in facilitating the development of standard documents for manufacturers, service providers etc.

On the issue of accountability, the Minister for Finance recently developed new methods to deal with the accounting and financial expenditure in terms of how Estimates are laid before the Dáil and the respective committees. I support these and they may afford a greater opportunity to Members of the Dáil and Seanad to ensure the financial accountability of State bodies. The Comptroller and Auditor General has an oversight role, as does the Committee of Public Accounts. The fundamental question concerns the degree to which the Oireachtas wants to delegate responsibilities to State agencies. Much of the work of the agencies in my Department, such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, has been very successful. I am not so sure the agencies would have been so successful had they been encapsulated by the Civil Service.

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I have no doubt but that we need agencies such as the IDA and I commend them on their good work. Does the Minister believe he needs 29 different agencies, as listed in the TASC report. I could provide this list to the Minister and we could determine what agencies included thereon are not on his list. We could then ask whether the identified agencies are needed. Does the report not beg the question as to whether the functions of certain agencies overlap and whether there is a requirement for tightening up?

There is a lack of political accountability. We have a National Consumer Agency and a Consumer Strategy Group. On the issue of setting up the enterprise strategy group, we allocate functions to a to a particular appointed board or group and, when results are not achieved, the Department says it has no role in the operations of the independent body in question. There is much concern that when work done outside the aegis of the Department and without political direction does not lead to positive developments, the Department is distanced from the work that must then be done. There is a lack of democratic accountability and a need for a review and amalgamation. That there are 29 departmental agencies receiving 90% of the Department's budget begs the question as to whether there is a quango system in place that suits the Department but not the people.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The big push currently is to get stronger synergy among the major agencies — IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and FÁS — in terms of the skills issues as they affect multinational and indigenous companies. The consumer strategy group is gone; it was in operation for a short period. We must distinguish between agencies and groups that are established for a specific research policy purpose. While the Small Business Forum will continue in an implementation role, it could hardly be described as an agency. It is an effective facility for small businesses to inform Government of their ongoing needs. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, for example, was set up for a specific reason and has achieved outstanding success. Taking that alone, the benefits to be accrued from good governance via the establishment of such agencies are obvious. I am open to better political accountability. I share the Deputy's concern that all the agencies should realise that the funding comes from this House and that we should have good mechanisms, but we can improve our lot here also, even at committee level, in terms of the way we interact.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Sometimes they do not get good example from the Minister.