Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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152. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has conducted a capacity review of his Department’s ability to deliver services that they are responsible for in the past ten years to date; the same of State bodies and agencies under his Department’s aegis; if he published those reviews; the number of recommendations implemented arising from the reviews and same for State bodies and agencies under his aegis; if the capacity review was outsourced; and if so, to whom and at what cost. [40837/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has not carried out a capacity review in the last ten years. I would however mention an independent review of the Department’s performance that was carried out in 2010. The review examined the performance of the Department of Finance over the previous ten years. The conclusions of the review were published in a report entitled “Strengthening the Capacity of the Department of Finance”. This report was published in 2011, at a time when the Department of Finance was splitting into the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

In line with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies (2016) (‘The Code’), my Department carried out a Periodic Critical Review (PCR) of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) in 2022. The PCR examined the way in which the FSPO operates and the resultant report, which is available on my Department’s website, includes 14 recommendations that the FSPO is in the process of implementing.

As Minister for Finance, I am required to issue a report every five years under Section 227 of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) Act 2009 (the “Act”) where I assess the extent to which NAMA has made progress towards achieving its overall objectives and whether the continuation of NAMA is necessary having regard to the purposes of the Act. Three reports have been prepared under section 227 of the Act. The first report was published in July 2014 and focused on NAMA’s performance during its start-up phase from 2010 to 2014. The report concluded that the continuation of the Agency was necessary for NAMA to achieve its objectives and it recommended that it accelerate asset disposals in order to advance repayment of its senior bonds. The second report was published in July 2019 and focused on NAMA’s performance from 2014 to 2018. The report concluded that NAMA had made extensive progress in achieving its overall objectives and that its continuation was therefore necessary. Noting the potential for NAMA to further contribute to housing delivery and to enhance its lifetime surplus, the report also recommended that NAMA continue its operations until end-2025. The third report assessed NAMA’s achievement of its objectives over the period from 2019 until the end of 2023. The report concluded that NAMA made extensive progress in achieving its overall objectives over this period and is on target to conclude its work by the end of 2025 through a phased and orderly wind down. The Section 227 reports are prepared by officials in my Department and are published on the NAMA website.

In 2017, the Credit Review Office (CRO) conducted an internal review and published a report entitled “A review and assessment of the Statutory Basis on which the Credit Review Office operates”. The CRO implemented 5 recommendations arising from the review.

The Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018 includes a requirement for the Minister for Finance to review Home Building Finance Ireland’s performance and impact every two years. These reviews are called “Section 24 Reviews” and were published in 2021 and 2023. General recommendations have been implemented from these reviews plus 1 specific recommendation relating to a new product from the 2023 review.

In 2015, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) appointed an independent peer review group to provide an independent evaluation of the Fiscal Council’s outputs in line with the Fiscal Council’s Strategic Plan 2014–2016. The review group members were Iain Begg, Lars Jonung and Michael G Tutty. The published report is entitled: “How is the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Performing? An Independent Evaluation of the First Years of IFAC”. 18 recommendations were implemented arising from the review, the cost of which was €13,737 (excluding VAT).

In 2020, IFAC commissioned the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to conduct an external evaluation to assess the functioning of the Council with respect to its mandate under the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012, its governance structures, how effectively it communicates its work and the impact of its work. The published report is called: “OECD Review of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council”. 14 recommendations were implemented arising from the review. The review was funded by the European Commission under its Structural Reform Support Programme.

In the years 2018 and 2023, the Investor Compensation Company conducted internal assessments of organisational design and resourcing levels. 3 recommendations in each of the reviews were implemented. These reviews were neither published nor outsourced.

In 2015, the National Treasury Management Agency commissioned PwC to conduct a review of the State Claims Agency’s resourcing. The cost of the review was €69,970 (excluding VAT). 2 recommendations arising from the review were implemented. This review was not published.

In 2020, the Comptroller and Auditor General, as an independent, constitutional Officer, commissioned an independent external assessment of the Office’s performance against international standards and good practice. The peer review made 13 recommendations, 12 of which have been implemented. The cost of the review was €70,000 (excluding VAT).

In 2018, the then Minister for Finance appointed Ms. Niamh O’Donoghue to conduct a review of the staffing resources and structure, governance and operation structure of the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC). The report entitled “Review of the Workload and Operations of the Tax Appeals Commission” was published and the TAC implemented 21 recommendations arising from the review. The cost of the review was €4,524 (excluding VAT)