STATE AGENCIES:FINE GAEL has proposed the abolition of 145 State agencies. Party spokesman on enterprise Richard Bruton said there were almost 1,000 State agencies at national, local and regional level, which was far too many for the Republic.
“We believe a smaller number of State agencies could do the same job just as effectively and far more cheaply,” Mr Bruton added.
Fine Gael communications spokesman Leo Varadkar said billions of euro of government spending are still being wasted. “One of the most obvious areas is the huge number of quangos and agencies,” he added.
The party’s plan proposes merging the Competition Authority with the National Consumer Agency. The functions of city and county enterprise boards would be transferred to enterprise units within local authorities. Forfás would be restored to an office within the Department of Enterprise.
Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the board dealing with dormant accounts would be abolished under the plan announced in Dublin on Saturday.
Fine Gael proposals also include merging prison visiting committees into one panel and merging the National Roads Authority and Railway Procurement Agency. Vocational education committees would be reduced from 33 to 20, while the Pensions Ombudsman would be merged with the Financial Services Ombudsman.
The local government audit service would come within the aegis of the Comptroller & Auditor General and offices carrying out means-testing would be replaced by a public entitlements service.
Fine Gael’s measures also propose rationalising agencies inspecting businesses and enforcing employment law.
Dismissing the proposals as an election gimmick, Fianna Fáil defence spokesman Niall Collins said they did not stand up to even basic scrutiny. He added Fine Gael had made no reference to new agencies it planned to introduce.