Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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298. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of agencies, boards or other bodies under the aegis of her Department that have been disbanded or amalgamated or whose functions were subsumed back into her Department since 2011; the number of such bodies set up by her Department since that date; the names of the bodies in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3397/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The bodies under the aegis of my Department that have been established, disbanded or amalgamated since 2011 are set out below.

Shannon Development (the Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited) was disbanded in 2014. The existing enterprise support functions carried out by Shannon Development in relation to both indigenous and overseas enterprises was assumed by IDA and EI.

Following a Government decision on 11th October 2012, the separate Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government was abolished.  The Director General of Science Foundation Ireland has taken on the role of Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government in addition to his existing role.

Under the Workplace Relations Act 2015, with effect from 1^stOctober 2015, the activities of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), the Equality Tribunal and the first instance functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Labour Court were merged into a new Body of First Instance, known as the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).  The appellate functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) have been incorporated into an expanded Labour Court. In accordance with the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, the EAT will be dissolved after it has disposed of all complaints and appeals referred to it before the commencement date of the WRC. However, the EAT cannot be dissolved as an entity until all of the legacy cases have been dealt with.

The Low Pay Commission was established on a statutory basis in July 2015 with the enactment of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015, having been established on an interim basis in February of that year. Since September 2017, responsibility for the Low Pay Commission rests with the Department of Employment and Social Protection following the transfer of certain employment rights functions from this Department.

The functions and staff of Forfaswere integrated into the Department in 2014. The overarching objective was to re-integrate and strengthen the Departments capacity to formulate and develop enterprise policy.

INAB (Irish National Accreditation Board)was formally part of Forfás prior to July 2014. Under the Industrial Development (Dissolution of Forfas) Act 2014, an Act to make provision for the dissolution of Forfás, the functions of INAB were transferred to the Health and Safety Authority, with INAB becoming a Committee of Authority.

In 2014 the Local Enterprise Offices were launched, marking the dissolution of the 35 separate independent State agencies, the County Enterprise Boards (CEBs) which previously provided supports in this area.

Microfinance Ireland is a not-for-profit lender, established in 2012 to deliver the Government’s Microenterprise Loan Fund. This fund was put in place to support small businesses with less than 10 employees and with an annual turnover of less than €2m who may be having difficulties in accessing funding for their business from banks and other commercial lenders. Helping to create and sustain employment by providing loans to small businesses.

The Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency were dissolved on the 31st October 2014 which was the same day the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission was established.

The Personal Injuries Commission was established in January 2017 on foot of a recommendation from the Cost of Insurance Working Group Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance.