John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 412: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the elements of the report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes that have been implemented to date by his Department; his plans to implement any aspects of the plan in the future; if the overall plan has been assessed by his Department; and if so, his views on the benefits of the plans. [28110/10]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes represented a set of options to reduce expenditure and staff numbers across the public sector. These options were considered by the Government within the context of framing the 2010 Budget.

Gross savings of some €57 million, or almost 12%, were achieved in the 2010 Revised Estimates Volume (REV) for the then Department of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Vote relative to the 2009 REV. While the allocations in most expenditure programmes were reduced, the primary concern was to make every effort to ensure that the daily front-line services provided with funding from my Department were protected, especially those focused on the needs of the most socially deprived communities. With regard to the reduction in staff numbers, the Government's moratorium on staff recruitment and promotion and other associated measures, including the incentivised early retirement scheme, have achieved, and continue to achieve, reductions in staff numbers across my Department and relevant agencies.

Finally, as part of the restructuring of Departments and agencies announced in March by the Taoiseach to ensure greater coherence and produce more efficient delivery, my Department incorporated responsibility for social inclusion policy and family policy from the Department of Social Protection and for equality, disability, integration and human rights from the Department of Justice and Law Reform. As stated by the Taoiseach in this context, it is important, while addressing the priority issues in responding to unemployment and driving economic recovery, that we do not lose sight of the importance of social development, the targeting of the most vulnerable and support for those working to make a difference right across our communities.