Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for facilitating the progress of this legislation. These amendments are essentially technical in nature and follow on from the good debate we had on Second Stage. The provisions contained in the Bill represent a piece of work that needed to be done to improve the capacity of the Department to execute policy across the system, encompassing not just agencies under its remit, but also providing an insight into the work of other Departments. Forfás already has become central to the Action Plan for Jobs, which is our key tool in seeking to influence policy towards improving employment and enterprise performance.

This change is the correct way to go. It is not just about efficiency in aligning or reducing the number of bodies, although that is obviously a concern, but it is also about making sure we can do our policy work in the most effective way and improve the implementation of policy. That is the motivation behind the legislation and I thank the Seanad for its support.