A significant rationalisation of State agencies, including the abolition of the Western Development Commission, has been called for by the group established by the Government to review spending.
As well as targeting the Western Development Commission, the Independent Estimates Review Committee has called for the abolition of the Irish Film Board, the rationalisation of the fisheries boards and a merging in the longer term of the marketing activities of Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Glas.
The recommendations are included in the appendices of the report of the so-called "three wise men" -- former senior civil servants Mr Maurice O'Connell, Mr Dermot Quigley and Mr Kevin Bonner - who were asked by the Government to examine spending in all areas in the run-up to the Budget. While the summary proposals of the group, which were published on Budget day, have received much attention, the committee also went into detailed recommendations about some departments in its appendices.
In his Budget speech, the Minister accepted a recommendation from the group to initiate a further study of spending in 2004 and 2005 and this is expected to focus on many of the areas identified by the committee.
In what may prove one of its more controversial recommendations, the committee called for the winding up of the Western Development Commission. The commission, established in 1997 and based in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, is the statutory body which promotes economic and social development in the West. Its remit covers counties Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Leitrim and Roscommon.
The "three wise men" argued that "the activities of the Western Development Commission overlap and duplicate those carried out by the Community Enterprise Boards, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Enterprise Ireland and should, accordingly, be abolished."
The Western Development Commission had one of its key policy instruments, the Western Development Fund, slashed in the spending estimates from €6.35 million this year to €2 million next year. The commission uses the fund to allocate venture capital to business projects in its region.
The committee also called for rationalisation in other areas of State agencies, or agencies supported by public funding. It said that, given the financial reliefs available to film-making, " the continuation of the Irish Film Board is unwarranted." The board provides financial support for the making of Irish films.
In the area of food marketing and exports, the review committee called on the Government to plan for an eventual merger of Bord Bia, which looks after exports of food and drink, Enterprise Ireland, which is responsible for other exports from indigenous industry, and An Bord Glas, which deals with the horticultural sector.
The report also calls for an examination of the fisheries board structure. At the moment there is one Central Fisheries Board and seven regional boards and the committee said there would "seem to be scope for rationalising the existing structure".
Among other areas which it recommends should be studied further include the imposition of domestic water charges, the health board structure, and the optimal location of defence forces barracks, Garda stations, schools and health service facilities. The existing provision of child benefit, free third-level education, free medical cards for the over-70s and home-improvement grants for people with disabilities should also be subject to further scrutiny, the committee said.
