Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 9: To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the implementation of the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19680/08]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 10: To ask the Taoiseach the achievements to date of the better regulation project; if he will keep control of the project within his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20599/08]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 11: To ask the Taoiseach the practical or beneficial outcome for citizens from the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20938/08]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 12: To ask the Taoiseach the progress made to date with regard to implementation of the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21764/08]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 13: To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the implementation of the recommendations of the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29469/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 13, inclusive, together.

Since the publication of the OECD report, Regulatory Reform in Ireland in 2001, significant progress has been made in the area of regulatory reform. In 2004, the Government published the White Paper, Regulating Better, in response to the OECD's report. The White Paper provides the basis for work on the better regulation agenda. Some of the key areas outlined in the White Paper relate to specific sectoral issues on which the responsible Ministers report directly to the House.

The better regulation unit in my Department is tasked with the overall promotion of the better regulation agenda across the Government system. Clearly, individual Ministers and their Departments and Offices are responsible for implementing the various elements of this agenda within their own Departments and agencies under their aegis. There are no plans to alter these arrangements. In the context of the ongoing work of the better regulation unit, I would like to outline briefly for the House progress, in particular, in the three areas of regulatory impact analysis, modernisation of the Statute Book and reviewing the economic regulatory environment.

Following a Government decision in June 2005, regulatory impact analysis, RIA, must be applied to all proposals for primary legislation, significant statutory instruments, draft EU directives and significant EU regulations. RIA is a tool which is used to assess the likely effects of a proposed new regulation or regulatory change in a structured and transparent way. In line with the terms of Towards 2016, an independent review of the operation of RIA was published in July of this year and is available on the better regulation website. It indicates that, overall, good progress has been made in relation to the implementation of regulatory impact analysis across Departments, with some 74 produced in the period between June 2005 and February 2008. The report also finds that the supports which have been made available to officials conducting RIAs are well regarded. More than 800 officials have been trained in the use of RIA. This training has resulted in a significant increase in analytical skill sets across the Civil Service. These skills help to ensure that all impacts, including unintended ones, are assessed through the RIA process, resulting in better quality legislation. The Government has agreed to implement the recommendations made in the report.

The better regulation unit of my Department has, together with the Office of the Attorney General, steered and focused work in the area of modernisation of the Statute Book. This work is designed to increase the transparency and accessibility of the Statute Book for the citizen. The statute law revision project is helping to clear away thousands of redundant and obsolete Acts so we can see what needs to be repealed and re-enacted in modern, consolidated form. Almost 3,500 obsolete pre-1922 Acts have already been repealed by the Statute Law Revision Acts 2005 and 2007.

The current phase of the statute law revision project is focusing on local, personal and private Acts. The aim is to provide a complete list of pre-1922 primary legislation which remains in force. The heads of a new statute law revision Bill were approved by the Government on 29 April 2008.

In addition, the Law Reform Commission is undertaking a programme of statute law restatement which will make legislation more accessible by providing, in the case of selected Acts, a single, up-to-date text, including all amendments. The Acts to be restated as part of the programme were selected following an extensive consultation process and reflect Government priorities. This process of restatement will also facilitate future consolidation and modernisation of legislation.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to instigate a review of the economic regulatory environment which fits well with elements of the action programme for better regulation contained in the White Paper. An interdepartmental group chaired by my Department has been tasked with advancing work in this area, for which the Economist Intelligence Unit in a partnership with Compecon Limited is undertaking an independent review to compare key economic regulators with their counterparts in the EU and the OECD and thereby address the need for stronger international benchmarks in regard to the comparative efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of regulators. It is expected this review will be completed by the end of the year.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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There is only time for brief supplementary questions.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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That is very exciting stuff from the Taoiseach. I have three brief questions. The Government is committed to a 25% reduction in red tape, which is a very large cost for business. An employer with eight employees recently told me that one of his staff must spend half a day each week filling Government forms. Is it planned to carry out a baseline assessment of the cost of red tape for Irish business that would apply across the board so people would know what the target is on a comparative level?

Second, an independent benchmarking report has been commissioned to address the need for stronger international data and benchmarks to assess the comparative efficiency and effectiveness of key Irish economic regulators. When is that expected to be published? Third, the report on regulatory impact analysis by an independent review was published recently. Some of the stakeholders involved in this were disappointed at the apparent lack of consultation about it. In any event, given the time put into it and its considerable cost of €108,000, when does the Taoiseach expect the review's recommendations to be implemented? Is there a programme through which that will take place and is there a target date for implementation of the recommendations?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the 25% target for reducing the administrative cost of regulation by 2012, which was agreed by the Government in February last, more than six months ago, are there any figures available on how much of that 25% target has been achieved? When does the Taoiseach intend to give some interim update on how much the cost of regulation has been reduced since that target was announced?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The 25% target for the reduction of administrative burdens arising from national legislation by 2012 is under the aegis of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who has overall responsibility for achieving that target. In this context the Department is leading a cross-departmental project to measure the administrative burdens arising from all national legislation. The approach and methodology to be used are currently being devised and work across Departments will be co-ordinated and reported on annually by the Tánaiste.

Parallel with that, the high level group on business regulation, which consists of business representatives and officials, has been examining ways of reducing unnecessary administrative burdens in five priority areas identified by Irish business as being the most burdensome. These are taxation, health and safety, environment law, statistical returns and employment and company law. That is in line with the commitment in the programme to ensure direct feedback from business on regulatory burdens. The first report of the high level group on business regulation was published in August. A number of individual administrative burdens were measured, identifying over €20 million of savings for business. Furthermore, the group is working to support co-operation between Departments and agencies across Government with a view to simplifying procedures and reducing duplication. That work will continue to result in the reduction of costs for business as well as identifying opportunities for meaningful efficiency improvements in the public sector.

The twin processes outlined above provide for a cross-Government target-driven process while at the same time allowing a forum for specific issues to be tabled and dealt with as they are identified by the business community. The regulatory impact analysis process will be used to measure the cost of any potential administrative burdens arising from future regulations.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Government's website page on better regulation states that the State liberalised telecommunications and describes this as a wise move that has placed the communications market on a par with many OECD countries. Does the Taoiseach not accept that the facts belie this claim? The latest European Commission survey on communications shows that Ireland lags far behind other countries. A total of 49% of homes here have an Internet connection but we rely on narrow band technology or dial-up access. This is the only EU state where more households access the Internet by narrow band than by broadband technology. What is the Government doing about this? This is one of the most important areas that must be addressed, particularly now when there are ever-growing difficulties in the employment sector and a straitened economy. There is a need for real investment in opening up opportunities for the future and broadband is one of the areas that has been critically neglected. What steps does the Government propose to take? Will the Taoiseach assure the House that such critical investment will not be set aside as part of the Government's so-called addressing of the challenging fiscal circumstances that now confront us?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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With regard to the administrative burden faced by small businesses, many people who run small businesses spend their weekends at their dining room tables filling in the various survey forms that are sent out by Government offices. Not only is this a significant cost, but for many people who are new to the experience of running their own business it is an emotional and stressful burden. The Government has been talking about reducing this for some time and has spoken about putting as many as possible of the forms on-line and allowing them to be filled in on-line. The Taoiseach must be aware, from people in his constituency and the business people he knows, that our level of regulation is very old fashioned in that it still involves a great deal of form filling. We accept it is for the collection of statistical data, but small businesses are receiving a tsunami of paper. Does the Minister propose to lift that burden?

While the Taoiseach is lightening the burden of regulation for small business, what does he propose to do about the banks? During the debate on the Finance Act this year, the Taoiseach, who was then Minister for Finance, said he favoured regulation with a light hand. He spoke philosophically about it for some time. Now that regulation with a light hand has brought the international economy almost to its knees, particularly in the United States, does he intend to revisit his approach to regulation of large institutions such as banks? In particular, does he propose to examine how the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator have been able to respond to the current crisis brought about by delinquent capitalism in the United States banks and, indeed, in some European banks?

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Taoiseach can only answer in so far as the questions are related to the main questions.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The questions relate to the OECD report on regulatory reform. In response to Deputy Ó Caoláin, there has been a large expansion in broadband usage and more competition in the sector. There has also been a big reduction in the cost of using broadband. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in recent months produced a further paper setting out how he envisages the sector developing in the future, how we can meet the competitive challenge we have set ourselves in terms of trying to devise a knowledge economy and where broadband fits into that in the context of the information and communications technology sector. There has been a great deal of effort in that area. If the suggestion is that rather than having that type of environment we should have a State environment where it would be publicly provided, I doubt that we would have reached the current level of usage given the capital intensive nature of that type of investment. The market and competition in the market have helped to drive down costs and spread usage. Obviously, there is more to be done in that area.

With regard to Deputy Burton's question, we are working with our EU colleagues on improving regulation generally in the financial services area as a result of what has arisen. There are continuing challenges and these are being monitored and evaluated both nationally and at a European level as far as Ireland is concerned.