Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of staff in terms of whole time equivalents he has allocated within his Department to support the Better Regulation Group's work; the financial resources that have been spent in support of such work to date in 2008; the expected expenditure for the remainder of 2008; the budget for 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45694/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Department actively contributes to ongoing initiatives within the Civil and Public Service to regulate better, as set out in the Government's White Paper 'Regulating Better', which enunciates key principles of better regulation. This contribution includes liaison with the Department of the Taoiseach, as required, as well as participation on a range of inter-departmental groups, including the Regulatory Impact Analysis Network chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and the Group on Administrative Burden Reduction chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

However, within its ambit, the Department has very much a 'light' regulatory role, so its contribution is correspondingly proportioned. In whole time equivalent terms, only a small portion of an Assistant Principal's time is taken up with this work and the financial resources are also correspondingly small. Because it is not a key regulator, the Department is not represented on the Better Regulation Group.