Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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160. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total number of Irish quasi autonomous NGO’s that his Department either created or falls under his Department’s responsibility and was in existence when he became Minister and continues to exist to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55147/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The following are the State Bodies/Boards under the aegis of my Department.

I can advise the Deputy that no new State Agencies have been created by me since 9 March 2011.

However, I would draw the Deputy’s attention to the fact that, following enactment of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012, Microfinance Ireland was established as a private limited company in August 2012, as a subsidiary of the Social Finance Foundation and has charitable status. Microfinance Ireland has been funded by the Government to provide loans to newly established and growing microenterprises across all industry sectors that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by banks.

Further, there is a substantial programme of reform underway within my Department in relation to Agencies and Offices. The Agencies under the remit of my Department that are scheduled to be rationalised, merged or abolished are set out under the Government’s Agency Rationalisation Programme. These reforms include:

- Merge the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority into one single entity.

- Dissolve the 35 County Enterprise Boards and transfer their functions to Enterprise Ireland. These functions will be delivered by a network of Local Enterprise Offices located in Local Authorities. This will facilitate the delivery of an enhanced service and range of supports to the micro and small business sectors.

- Dissolve Forfás and provide for the transfer of the agency’s assets, liabilities and staff to my Department and other bodies, as appropriate.

- Transfer relevant enterprise functions from Shannon Development to IDA, EI and Bord Fáilte and merge Shannon Development with Shannon Airport Authority.

- Reform of the State's Workplace Relations Services to deliver a simplified two-tiered structure comprising a single body of first instance, the Workplace Relations Commission, and a single body of appeal, in effect an enhanced Labour Court.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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161. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total number of chairpersons of State boards, agencies and regulators that fall under his Department’s responsibility that were chairpersons when he became Minister and continue to be chairpersons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55163/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Of the twelve State Agencies under the aegis of my Department, six have the same Chairperson as was in place at the time of my appointment as Minister. The details of these are as follows:

National Consumer Agency

Mr. Stephen Costello was appointed as Chairperson of the National Consumer Agency on 1st May 2007 in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act 2007. I reappointed Mr. Costello as Chairperson the 1 May 2012 to assist in facilitating a seamless transition to the proposed merger of the Agency and the Competition Authority.

On the enactment of the Consumer Protection and Competition Bill both the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority will cease to exist as separate entities and the Warrants of Appointment of the Chairperson and Members of the Board of the National Consumer Agency will terminate.

Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB)

Ms Dorothea Dowling was the Chairperson of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board when I became Minister and is currently in her second term.

Forfás

The current Chairman of the Board of Forfás, Mr Eoin O’Driscoll, was in situ when I was appointed as Minister to this Department. Following my decision to integrate the policy functions of Forfás into my Department, I reappointed Mr O’Driscoll to remain in this position to facilitate the integration and to oversee the orderly wind-down of the agency.

On the dissolution of Forfás upon its integration into the Department the board including its Chairperson will be stood down.

Health and Safety Authority

The current Chairperson of the Board of the Health and Safety Authority, Mr Michael Horgan, was is in situ prior to my appointment as Minister.

IDA

The Chairperson of IDA Ireland, Mr Liam O’Mahony, was appointed 3 February 2010 and is due to retire on rotation on 31 December 2013.

Shannon Development

Mr John Brassil was re-appointed as a Director of Shannon Development and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SFADCo with effect from 12^th May 2009.

In addition, Ms Ann Riordan, was appointed Chairperson of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) on Dec 5th 2013, having previously served as Chairperson of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) at the time of my appointment as Minister.