Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support this Bill and I strongly support the initiative of the Minister of State and the Government in bringing it forward. Like Senator Horkan, I take the view that, normally, when we are told another statutory body is to be created, our antennae go up for a moment. However, on this occasion, I can see the reason that it should have a statutory basis. If it is to be accountable, if we are to have an Accounting Officer and if it is to be answerable to a Dáil committee, then, obviously, it needs a statutory basis. The second point is that although it is yet another State body, it should result in very substantial savings right across the public sector.

The Minister of State mentioned Killarney. I remember, when I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, going to Killarney, where there was a payments section which was quite a large payroll operation conducting a number of departmental functions. Some of the payrolls were fortnightly, others were monthly, and there was quite an odd collection of things happening there. In regard to An Garda Síochána in particular, the number of deductions was colossal and the paperwork involved in paying members of An Garda Síochána was fiercely complicated. This is from memory, given it is some ten years ago or more since I visited, but I remember thinking at the time that there must be a better way of dealing with this. If the payment function, for example, for members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána can be approximated and standardised, and if payment periods can be standardised, I think that would be a good idea.

I remember on one occasion the annual budgetary process taking place and my officials in the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform were very pleased because they had managed to keep from the Department of Finance's keen observation - there was no Department of Public Expenditure and Reform at the time - that there was one less pay day in the year in question, so we got a very significant boost in regard to our payments budget. It occurred to me that these kinds of things are anomalies which should be tidied up.

The second point is that, on the HR side, it should be the case that semi-State and State bodies which have considerable HR aspects to them should have shared services, in so far as these things can be standardised and shared. There are many academic institutions, local authorities and semi-State bodies which are replicating the same functions and, while I do not want to attack anyone's area of business, they are also hiring in IT consultants to work out small solutions for smallish operations at huge expense to the management. It makes sense that there should be a single body doing all of these things.

For those reasons, I completely support the legislation. I hope the National Shared Services Office has every success in doing the valuable work it is doing.