Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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76. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of agencies or State bodies under the aegis of his Department that have been abolished since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32240/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In response to the Deputy's question no State agencies or public bodies under the aegis of my Department have been abolished in the period since 2011.

However, it is expected the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014 will be enacted shortly which, inter alia, proposes to simplify and streamline NTMA governance structures.

The NTMA was set up to manage the National Debt in 1990 and has taken on a range of additional functions since then. Some of these functions were established as legal entities that were distinct from the Agency but which operated through it (e.g., the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF).

The new simpler structure that is being proposed involves these activities being assigned directly to the Agency under the direction of a new over-arching Board which will be responsible to the Minister for Finance. No changes are proposed to the existing arrangements in respect of NAMA which will continue to have its own board.

The approach proposed is in line with the Government's commitment in the area of the rationalisation of State bodies.