Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 136: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has adopted a set of measures drawn from the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes Report; the level of savings involved in the measures adopted; and the implementation strategy agreed. [5218/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes was published in July 2009 and outlined 271 recommendations with potential savings of up to €5.3 billion in a full year along with associated staffing reductions of over 17,300 in public service numbers. The Special Group's Report is advisory in nature. The Special Group's analysis and recommendations have been taken into account in the 2010 Budget and the estimates of expenditure for the year ahead. The Government decided to implement 32 recommendations in full and 89 in part. These savings are estimated to yield some €1.7 billion in 2010 and €1.9 billion in a full year, with savings implemented by the Department of Social and Family Affairs accounting for an estimated €691 million in 2010 and €739 million in a full year.

The Report of the Special Group and its recommendations will continue to inform Government considerations of overall expenditure strategy as well as ongoing structural reform in the public service.