Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of State agencies identified for abolition or merger in his Department; the number of agencies which have been merged or abolished to date in his Department; the total net savings which have been made in respect of each State agency arising from its merger or abolition in his Department; the likely date for merger or abolition and the reason for the delay in respect of each State agency which has not already been merged with another State agency or abolished in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3009/11]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that, as part of Budget 2009, a number of measures were agreed for my Department under the heading of Rationalisation of State Agencies. I can inform the Deputy that these measures insofar as they relate to my Department have been completed.

I would also like to draw the Deputy's attention to my Department's long standing shared services approach for the delivery of IT, financial and human resources services to the Department and its agencies and associated bodies. This strategy, which has been in place for many years, has allowed my Department and our associated agencies in the Justice Group to benefit from significant economies of scale and other efficiencies. The shared service approach adopted by my Department is fully consistent with the November 2008 Report of the Task Force on the Public Service which recommended greater use of a shared service approach for the delivery of services in the public sector. I might also add that the Department provides payroll and other financial services not only to organisations in the Justice Group but to other Government Departments and bodies.

The Report of the Special Group on Public Sector Numbers and Expenditure Programmes ("McCarthy Report") observed that there are "already some well-developed examples of the use of shared services across the Justice Group " citing my Department's Financial Shared Services and IT Shared Service. The Department continues to keep the shared services approach under review with a view to achieving additional efficiencies and, where possible, extending the services to other bodies and agencies.