Written answers

Thursday, 6 March 2008

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Departmental Agencies

5:00 pm

Photo of Ciarán LynchCiarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the areas and functions where responsibility has been devolved from him to a State or statutory agency; the agencies involved; the arrangements in each agency to respond on a priority basis to enquiries from Members of Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9922/08]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The following Bodies, which exercise statutory functions, are deemed "Offices" of my Department, whereby the staff of each Office is drawn, primarily, from the staffing complement of my Department:

1. Companies Registration Office (CRO)

2. Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT)

3. Labour Relations Commission (LRC)

4. Labour Court

5. National Employment Rights Authority (NERA)

6. Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE)

7. Patents Office

8. Registrar of Friendly Societies (RFS)

In the case of each "Office", the Head of that Office is responsible for exercising the statutory functions reposed in that Office under legislation passed by the Oireachtas. Although I remain accountable to the Oireachtas for the legislation and policy governing the role and functions of these Offices, responsibility for the day-to-day administration of that Office's statutory functions are a matter for the Head of each Office. Details of the role and functions of each Office is available on my Department's website — www.entemp.ie.

In addition, there are fourteen statutory Agencies working under the remit of my Department as follows:

1. Competition Authority

2. Enterprise Ireland

3. FÁS

4. Forfás

5. Health and Safety Authority

6. IDA Ireland

7. InterTradeIreland (established under the British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999 and under the remit of both the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment in Dublin and the Department for Enterprise Trade and Investment in Belfast)

8. Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA)

9. National Consumer Agency

10. National Standards Authority of Ireland

11. Personal Injuries Assessment Board

12. Science Foundation Ireland

13. Shannon Development

14. The County & City Enterprise Boards (35 in total)

The role and functions of each Agency is well known and set out in the individual pieces of legislation governing that Agency as passed by the Oireachtas. A summary of the role and functions of each Agency can be found on my Department's website as well as on each Agency's website. In accordance with each Agency's remit, I remain accountable to the Oireachtas for the legislative base and general policy direction for each of these Agencies, whereas the Agency itself is responsible for day-to-day decision-making on programme implementation and, where appropriate, property development, for which, I am not accountable to the Oireachtas. I am satisfied that each Agency has in place systems to allow it respond expeditiously and comprehensively to enquiries from Oireachtas Members and should the Deputy have concerns regarding the speed with which any of these Bodies deals with enquiries from Oireachtas Members, or the quality of their responses, I will be happy to bring them to the attention of the Agency's CEO for appropriate action. In this regard, Agency CEOs are generally available to appear before Oireachtas Committees to account for the running of their Agencies.

Additionally, there are three other Bodies which exercise certain statutory functions under legislation for which I am the responsible Minister and these are:

1. The Company Law Review Group (CLRG),

2. The Patents Agents Board, and

3. The Trade Mark Agents Board.As the CLRG was established under the Companies Acts, I am answerable to the Oireachtas for its work, however, given the specialist nature of the work of the other two Bodies, enquiries from Oireachtas Members do not generally arise.

Finally, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA), which operates under the aegis of the Minister for Finance, has been appointed as the "competent authority" to authorise collective investment funds and to supervise the activities of fund managers to ensure they comply with the requirements contained in relevant legislation. In its decision-making as "competent authority", IFSRA acts independently of me as Minister.

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