Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 393: To ask the Minister for Defence the action he has taken to date to fulfil the commitment in the programme for Government to make substantial cuts to the number of State bodies and companies; the number of such bodies and companies under his remit; the number that have been reformed, merged or abolished since March of this year; the plan in place within his Department to fully deliver on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32848/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The bodies under the aegis of my Department are the Civil Defence Board, the Army Pensions Board and the Board of Coiste an Asgard. In July, the Government approved a proposal to begin drafting legislation to transfer the functions of the Civil Defence Board back into the Department of Defence. The Heads of the Civil Defence (Repeal) Bill were subsequently agreed by Government in August. The Bill is currently being drafted and it is anticipated that it will be published in early 2012.

If enacted, the Bill will repeal the Civil Defence Act, 2002, dissolve the Civil Defence Board and transfer its functions, property rights, liabilities and other responsibilities to the Department of Defence. Such changes will not have any impact on Civil Defence operations nationally and Civil Defence will continue to operate from Roscrea as a Branch of the Department.

No reforms or mergers have been made in relation to the Army Pensions Board since March 2011.

Coiste an Asgard was the company set up to manage the National Sail Training Scheme. In September 2008, the company's sail training vessel 'Asgard II' sank in the Bay of Biscay. In December 2009, the previous Government announced that the National Sail Training Scheme was to be discontinued and the funding for 2010 was cancelled.

The Company has been inactive since and there are no crew or staff left on the payroll. The winding-up process is well advanced and it is anticipated that the company will be in a position to close by the end of this year, following a final audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.