Following the announcement yesterday that An Chomhairle Leabharlanna is to be dissolved, Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government Phil Hogan TD, has announced that the Dormant Accounts Board will also be dismantled.
The Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2011 will give legal effect to its dissolution and will strengthen Government and Oireachtas oversight of the area, while at the same time simplifying administrative arrangements and the associated processes in respect of grants awarded from the Dormant Accounts Fund.
The dissolution of the Board was one of the recommendations in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Number and Expenditure (the McCarthy Report).
According to a press release issued today by the Department, the objectives of the disbursements scheme will remain unchanged and Dormant Accounts funding will continue to be spent to assist persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged, persons who are educationally disadvantaged and persons with a disability.
It was also recently announced that Comhar, Sustainable Development Council, is to be integrated into the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).
Further rationalisation schemes ongoing within the department include: The establishment of the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency (HSCA), which rationalises the functions of the National Building Agency (NBA), the Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP) and the Centre for Housing Research (CHR); the merger of the Local Government Management Services Board and the Local Government Computer Services Board into the Local Government Management Agency; the administrative functions of the Rent Tribunal have transferred to the Private Residential Tenancies Board; and the functions of the Fire Services Council are now subsumed into the Department.