Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 164: To ask the Taoiseach the boards, bodies, authorities, agencies and quangos under the remit of his Department; the date of establishment; the number of members, staff and budget for each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21744/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 165: To ask the Taoiseach the boards, bodies, authorities, agencies and quangos under the remit of his Department that have been abolished in the past ten years; the number of members, staff and budget in the year of abolition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21759/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 166: To ask the Taoiseach the appointments he has made to State boards, agencies, quangos, bodies and authorities since 1 July 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21774/07]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 164 to 166, inclusive, together.

The main bodies under the remit of my Department are the National Statistics Board, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, the National Economic and Social Council and the National Economic and Social Forum. Details of their respective memberships and recent appointments are attached at Appendix A. The Law Reform Commission operates under the aegis of my Department and so details of this membership are also included.

The National Statistics Board was established on a statutory basis inNovember 1994, under the Statistics Act, 1993. The Board has no paid staff and no budget. Expenses incurred relate to the payment of stipends to five Board members, to the holding of meetings and to the publication of reports.

The National Economic and Social Council (NESC), the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) and the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) and the National Economic & Social Development Office have been in operation for various periods of time on a non statutory basis. Under the National Economic and Social Development Act, 2006, the bodies were established on a statutory basis as constituent bodies of the National Economic & Social Development Office (NESDO). The provisions of the Act came into force by order of the Taoiseach, as provided for in the Act, on 1st January, 2007. Details of staffing levels and budgets for each body are attached at Appendix B.

The All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution was established in 1997. To date, it has been funded by a grant administered by my Department. Members have been appointed by Party Leaders at each change of Government and the secretariat has varied over the past 10 years between 2 and 3 full-time staff at various times. The Budget has risen from £250,000 per annum to approx. €400,000. The Committee is to become a Joint Committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas in the 30th Dáil.

In addition, the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership in Dublin was established in 2001 under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and has been under the remit of the Department of the Taoiseach since January 2004. It has a membership of 13 and the staff comprises a Director, an Assistant Director and one member of support staff. Its costings since 2004 are just under €1.2 million.

Following on from the work of the Information Society Commission, an eInclusion Stakeholders group was established by my Department in 2006 to continue the work that the ISC were doing. It has a membership of 28 including representatives of the Social Partners, Government Departments and Agencies, academics and those engaged in the delivery of eInclusion projects and programmes at local and EU level. The group will monitor progress on a national eInclusion strategy, which addresses those in each lifecycle stage that are digitally excluded. The secretariat for the group is provided by the Information Society Policy Unit in my Department.

The following are the most significant bodies under the remit of my Department which have been abolished:—

The first Information Society Commission was established by the Government in May 1997, in response to the Report of Ireland's Information Society Steering Committee: "Information Society Ireland: Strategy for Action".

The Commission was an advisory body whose main function was to monitor and advise Government on the development of an Information Society in Ireland. One of the most important of the Commission's tasks was to raise awareness amongst the general public and industry of the opportunities and benefits offered by the Information Society. The Commission completed its term of office in December 2000.

The Commission had 10 members and 8 secretariat staff. The budget for the Commission in 2000 was: £560,000 (€711,053). The Commission had a staff complement of 8 in its final year.

The second Information Society Commission (ISC) was appointed by me in November 2001 and completed its term of office on 31 December, 2004. In its final year there were 20 members of the second ISC and 8 secretariat staff. The budget for the ISC in 2004 was €700,000. The ISC was established as an independent advisory body to Government. It had a key role in shaping the evolving public policy framework for the development of the Information Society in Ireland. It reported directly to the Taoiseach and drew on high-level representation from the business community, the social partners and the public service. The membership of the ISC in its final year was 20.

The National Millennium Committee was established in 1998 to examine and to make recommendations on projects of national significance to be included in the Government's Millennium Programme. The Committee's work was done by April 2000, following the commitment by the Government of Committee funds to the recommended projects. The total amount allocated to the Committee for the Millennium Programme was €30.09 million — all of which was allocated by April 2000. A small office of four Civil Servants, provided the secretariat to the Committee. This Office remained in place until June 2002, when it was abolished, to supervise the drawdown of the allocated funds according to agreed drawdown arrangements. The staffing cost of this Office in 2002 was €132,000. The Board had 13 members at the time of its abolition.

The National Centre for Partnership (NCP) ceased to exist in October 2000 and was replaced by the National Centre for Partnership & Performance (NCPP) in 2001.

I established the Taskforce on Active Citizenship on 18 April, 2006 to examine the extent to which citizens engage in the issues that affect them and their communities. There were 20 members of the Taskforce which completed its work in March 2007, when it presented a set of recommendations to Government. The recommendations were accepted by Government, in principle, and at the launch of the Report on 28 March, 2007, I announced my intention to establish a Steering Group, to be chaired by Mary Davis, to lead the implementation of the Report. The membership of the Group will be announced in the near future. The Secretariat to the Taskforce comprised 4 civil servants from the Department of the Taoiseach. The annual budget for each of the years 2006 and 2007 was €200,000.

The Commission of Investigation (Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974) completed its work and presented its Final Report to me in March 2007. The Commission comprised of a Sole Member, one Senior Council and three Administrative Staff. Its total spend for 2007 was €405,000.

The current number of members on the NESC Council is 32.

NESF was originally established by the Government in 1993, The membership of the newly constituted Forum has not yet been announced. There were 62 members on the previous Forum.

The current number of members on the NCPP Council is 14.

The current number on the board of NESDO is 5.