JUST OVER a third of the 48 State agencies earmarked for abolition or merger in 2012 will have completed the process by the end of the year.
Last November, the Government published a list of 48 bodies which it said would be rationalised by the end of 2012, including the National Roads Authority; the Railway Procurement Agency; the employment rights bodies; the State’s galleries, libraries and museums; the Equality Authority; and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
Detailed information disclosed by the relevant Government department in response to queries by The Irish Times has shown that only 17 of the 48 abolitions will have been completed by the end of 2012.
A commitment for a radical cull of State quangos was a key manifesto promise of Fine Gael in the run-up to last year’s elections. Proposals to reduce the number of bodies were contained in the programme for government agreed with Labour.
When announcing the rationalisation plan last November, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said the Government would press ahead resolutely with reducing the number of State agencies and said categorically that 48 agencies would be rationalised by the end of this year.
A report reviewing the feasibility of abolishing or merging a further 46 agencies has been with the Minister since June but its contents and target dates have yet to be made public. It is expected to be discussed by Cabinet later this month ahead of an announcement disclosing which of the 46 agencies will be scheduled for “culling” in 2013.
The two Government departments which have best implemented the rationalisation plan in 2012 are the Departments of Education and Environment. Five of the six agencies in Education and all eight in Environment have reached their goals.
Some of the big changes that have slipped into next year include the merger of the five employment rights bodies into one; the merging of the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority; and the abolition of enterprise boards.
Uncertainty surrounds the projects controversially targeted in the Department of Arts and Heritage. They included merged services plans for the main museums, for the main art galleries, and for the National Library and National Archive. There were also plans to abolish the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga.
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan has yet to bring a memorandum to Cabinet on a plan, so progress is unlikely until well into 2013 or 2014.
However, Taoiseach Enda Kenny last week indicated to unions that he was going to push ahead with plans to abolish or merge 48 quangos, and then move on to a further 46. He indicated that he would use the Croke Park agreement to ensure swift implementation of all such mergers.
Among those completed include the abolition of the educational awards bodies and the shutting down of environmental agency Comhar.
