Written answers
Tuesday, 23 January 2018
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Departmental Bodies
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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669. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of agencies, boards or other bodies under the aegis of his Department that have been disbanded or amalgamated or whose functions were subsumed back into his Department since 2011; the number of such bodies set up by his Department since that date; the names of the bodies in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3407/18]
Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The agencies, boards and other bodies under the aegis of my Department that have been disbanded or amalgamated or whose functions were subsumed back into my Department since 2011, some of which have since moved to the remit of other Departments, are set out in the following tables:
| Agencies, Boards and Bodies | Comment |
|---|---|
| National Building Agency | Merged with the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency (Housing Agency) (2011) |
| Comhar | Integrated into the work of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) with effect from January 2012. |
| Building Regulations Advisory Body(BRAB) | Subsumed into the Department in 2012 |
| An Chomhairle Leabharlanna | Merged with the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) (2012) |
| The Local Government Computer Services Board | Merged with the LGMA (2012) |
| Local Government Management Services Board | Merged with the LGMA (2012) |
| Limerick Northside Regeneration Agency | Subsumed into Limerick City & County Council (2012) |
| Limerick Southside Regeneration Agency | Subsumed into Limerick City & County Council (2012) |
| Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland | Merged with the EPA (2014) |
| Rent Tribunal | Dissolved and functions transferred to the Residential Tenancies Board (2016) |
| Dublin Developments Docklands Authority | Merged with Dublin City Council (2016) |
The bodies set up by my Department since 2011 are set out in the following table:
| New bodies set up since 2011 | Comment |
|---|---|
| The Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency (Housing Agency) | Established on an administrative basis in 2010 but formally established on 1 August 2012. |
| Irish Water | Established under the Water Services (No. 1) Act 2013 |
| Pyrite Resolution Board | Established 2014 |
| Public Water Forum | Established under the Water Services Act 2014 |
| The National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) | Established in 2014 under the Local Government Reform Act 2014 |
| An Fóram Uisce (the Water Forum) | Not statutorily established yet. Operating on a non-statutory basis. |
While I have responsibility for policy and legislation in respect of the local government system, local authorities are entirely independent corporate entities having full responsibility under law for the performance of their functions and the discharge of their governance and other responsibilities.As such, local authorities are not under the aegis of my Department.However, they underwent a major reform programme in the period since 2011 that,inter alia, saw the dissolution of 86 bodies including amalgamation of three pairs of authorities resulting in a net reduction of 83 in the number of authorities from 114 to 31. This reform also saw a total of eight regional authorities and two regional assemblies dissolved and replaced by three consolidated regional assemblies.
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