Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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776. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of agencies quangos or other bodies within, funded by or established by her Department which have been scrapped, merged or reduced since this Government was formed; the amount saved in each case; the reduction in staff as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1012/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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For the Deputy's information, following the enactment of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012, the Education Finance Board was dissolved in March 2013 and Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board was established. The body is funded from the contributions of the religious congregations offered in response to the request for additional contributions, following the publication of the Ryan Report.

Under the provisions of the Further Education and Training Act 2013, FÁS with a staffing of 1,108 was dissolved in October 2013 and the new Further Education and Training Authority, An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna (SOLAS) was established with responsibility for funding, planning and co-ordinating training and further education programmes. SOLAS was established on 27 October 2013 and funded for the remainder of the year from the residual FÁS budget. SOLAS has a current full time equivalent staffing of 211.

Under the Public Service Reform plan a number of bodies were merged as follows.

The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology and Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences were merged in March 2012 to form the Irish Research Council (IRC). The IRC has been established as a sub-board of the Higher Education Authority (HEA). Its function is to award research funding, primarily for postgraduate students and early-career postdoctoral researchers. The establishment of the IRC will result in an estimated saving of €100,000 on an annual basis.

Under the provisions of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI), the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) were amalgamated to form a new agency, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). QQI's functions are set out in Section 9 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act, 2012. These include the development of awards and standards, review of education and training providers, development of quality assurance, validation of programmes, maintenance of the National Framework of Qualifications and facilitation of qualification recognition. The estimated saving following the merger is €1 million on annual basis.

Under the provisions of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013, 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) have replaced 33 Vocational Education Committees (VECs). The functions of ETBs are set out in Section 10 of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013. Following re-configuration of the VECs, the number of Chief Executive Officer posts have been reduced from 33 to 16. This change has resulted in full year savings of the order of €1.9m. Further savings are likely to be achieved through the realisation of economies of scale arising from the mergers and the wider Education and Training Sector Reform Programme.