Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 304: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the list of all proposals in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure relating to her Department or to bodies or agencies under her remit which have been implemented to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13891/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, as published in July 2009, made a number of recommendations in respect of my Department and the agencies under its aegis. Specifically, the Special Group made proposals to reduce programme expenditure by almost €105 million in 2010 and to structurally reduce 170 staff across the Department and its agencies. It also proposed that consideration should be given to the discontinuation of my Department as a Department in its own right.

Savings of more than €35 million, or almost 7 per cent, were achieved in the Revised Estimates for 2010 for my Vote Group, compared to 2009. Moreover, the Government's moratorium on staff recruitment and promotion and its incentivised early retirement scheme continue to achieve reductions in staff numbers across my Department and its agencies. Finally, as recently as last week, the Government made structural re-alignments to a range of Departments of State. As part of these re-alignments, the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is to become the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, having an enhanced emphasis on maximising the benefits to Ireland, in financial and other terms, of both our tourism product and our cultural and sporting heritage. In addition responsibility for the horseracing and greyhound industries has been transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.