Merger of food and medicines bodies shelved, says Lenihan

THE GOVERNMENT has abandoned plans to merge the main regulatory bodies for food safety and medicine following widespread opposition to the move.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has confirmed that the proposed merger of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), which was announced in the 2009 Budget, will not now go ahead.

Mr Lenihan has also said that only 19 of the 30 mergers of State bodies proposed as cost-saving measures in the 2009 Budget have so far taken place. Another seven are targeted for this year and “progress is being pursued” in the remaining four.

The total reduction in staff for the mergers which have taken place and for which figures are available is less than 60.

Mr Lenihan was unable to provide a figure for the money saved as a result of all mergers because, he said, it was often difficult to make definitive projections when agencies were being consolidated.

Mr Lenihan said six other rationalisations of agencies, aside from those announced in the 2009 Budget, had taken place and that further rationalisation of State bodies would continue.

Answering a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton, Mr Lenihan said the Government had agreed to the retention of the FSAI and the IMB as standalone agencies.

The proposed merger had been vigorously opposed by the food industry and an Oireachtas committee.

The Office of Tobacco Control, which was to have been merged with these two bodies, has been subsumed into the HSE.

The proposed merger of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission also looks unlikely to go ahead.

The Minister said the Department of Equality was looking at securing economies through greater co-operation with the agencies.

No target date has been set for the merger of the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority, though legislation is in preparation.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Mary Hanafin said legislation had been delayed after it was decided to include other matters, including a code of practice and an ombudsman for the grocery trade.

The biggest saving resulted from the “integration” of the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office of Social Inclusion into the Department of Social and Family Affairs. This cut costs by €2.7 million and reduced staffing by 11.

The abolition of the National Crime Council has saved €400,000 a year, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism more than €600,000, and the merger of the Rent Tribunal and the Private Residential Tenancies Board €100,000.

The closure of the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development saved in excess of € 800,000 a year.