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Reform programme continues as Minister Bruton publishes legislation for Forfás integration into his Department

Move will strengthen capacity to drive job-creation policy

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today (Monday) published legislation to integrate the policy research functions of Forfás into his Department.

The aim of the move is to strengthen the capacity of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to drive job-creation policy. The integration will lead to the creation of a new Strategic Policy Division within the Department and Forfás staff will form the core of this new Division.

Since Minister Bruton has taken office, Forfás has become increasingly involved in the central policy-making process in the Department of Jobs, with the Agency playing a leading role in the development of the Action Plan for Jobs.

The move forms part of a broader reform programme being driven by Minister Bruton across his Department and its Agencies, including:

• the merger of the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority

• the reform of the 5 workplace relations bodies into two organisations

• restructuring the enterprise support model for micro and small businesses, including the dissolution of the 35 CEBs and the creation of the new Local Enterprise Offices

• restructuring transport and enterprise development bodies in the Shannon region

Making today’s announcement, Minister Bruton said:

“The Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and create the jobs we need is based on supporting and accelerating the transition that is taking place from the old economy based on banking and debt to a new economy based on enterprise, exports and innovation. We are seeing major progress in the economy, with more than 1200 additional jobs per week created in the private sector over the past year and record job-creation in multinational and indigenous companies.

“However, if we are to sustain and accelerate this positive movement, we must continue a relentless drive across Government on jobs and competitiveness. That is why we are integrating the strong policy-making capabilities of Forfás into the heart of Government, to help drive job-creation policies across Government.

“Forfás CEO, Martin Shanahan, and his team have made a major contribution to the momentum we have built on the jobs challenge in the past two years. I look forward to continuing the strong collaboration we have built, to drive new reforms in employment and competitiveness policies and create the jobs we need”.

To view content of Bill, see links below:

Page for Bill: http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=25184&&CatID=59

Bill: http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/bills/2013/13813/b13813d.pdf

Memo: http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/bills/2013/13813/b13813d-memo.pdf

NOTES

The key elements of the Bill are:

· The integration of the research and policy advisory functions of Forfás into the Department;

· The transfer of functions conferred upon Forfás and assigned to Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland (IDA) to Enterprise Ireland and IDA as appropriate;

· The strengthening and transfer of the accreditation function and the transfer of staff of the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB), which is a Committee of Forfás, to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) with INAB becoming a Committee of the HSA;

· For staff working in Forfás to transfer to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation as civil servants, or as fixed term employees as appropriate;

· For the dissolution of Forfás and transitional and related matters.