Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 238: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of Croke Park Agreement projects that each State agency under his aegis is progressing; if he will list each project by Department in tabular form; the amount to be saved by each project; the number that have been completed since the agreement came into force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34160/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014, my Department, its Offices and the Agencies that come within my Department's remit were required to prepare Implementation Plans, and two subsequent Progress Reports, for consideration by the National Implementation Body, which is responsible for overseeing, driving and verifying progress on the implementation of the Public Service Agreement.

My Department currently has 13 State Agencies supporting us in our work. These are:

1. Enterprise Ireland (www.enterprise-ireland.com)

2. IDA Ireland (www.idaireland.com)

3. Science Foundation Ireland (www.sfi.ie)

4. Shannon Development (www.shannondevelopment.ie)

5. County & City Enterprise Boards (35) (www.enterpriseboards.ie)

6. National Standards Authority of Ireland (www.nsai.ie)

7. InterTradeIreland (the North / South Business Development Body) (www.intertradeireland.com)

8. Forfás (www.forfas.ie)

9. National Consumer Agency (www.nca.ie)

10. The Competition Authority (www.tca.ie)

11. Irish Auditing and Accounting Standards Authority (www.iaasa.ie)

12. Personal Injuries Assessment Board (www.injuriesboard.ie), and

13. The Health & Safety Authority (www.hsa.ie)

To date, each of these Agencies, with the exception of InterTradeIreland which is exempted from the process, has submitted a detailed Plan for implementing the Agreement as well as two Progress Reports. Copies of the Implementation Plans and the first Progress Reports that cover the period to March 2011, and which were approved by the National Implementation Body, are available on the respective Agency websites. The most recent Progress Reports covering the period from April to September 2011 have been forwarded to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for consideration by the Implementation Body. Once this process is completed, I will arrange for each Agency to place their Report on their website.

Many of the actions in the Plans are designed to deliver long-term sustainable savings. The precise amount of savings which will accrue these initiatives has not yet been quantified as it is dependent on, inter alia, central measures that the Government will adopt in relation to, for example, agency rationalisation & shared services. However, the Progress Reports indicate that the most significant savings are through the reduction in numbers and consequent savings on pay.