Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

On behalf of the Minister, I thank the Pensions Board for its help in drafting these amendments to the Pensions Act.

Section 38 amends the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to underpin the proposals in Towards 2016 for the Revenue Commissioners to transfer to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the new office dedicated to employment rights compliance, information similar to that which the Revenue Commissioners will be empowered to transfer to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Section 39 and Schedule 3 amend the Combat Poverty Agency Act 1986 and the Family Support Agency Act 2001 to provide that the director and chief executive officer, respectively, of these agencies, which are under the Minister's remit, are accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts on the same basis as are the Accounting Officers of Departments, in line with the Mullarkey report.