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Making public policy has never been easy. And it is getting more difficult. The amount of information to be considered by policy makers can be overwhelming. and ever more complex. Moreover, policy makers are often being pushed to produce ‘early policies’, after being bombarded by unfounded ‘facts’. There is no […]
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform regularly updates the Public Spending Code to ensure that it continues to reflect current best practice in project appraisal and evaluation. On 19 January 2023, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Pascal Donoghue gave the most recent update on the Code, in […]
Taxpayers like to know where their money is spent. Most importantly they want to know if their money is being spent well. Although there are no simple ways of providing all-embracing answers to these questions, the Government uses several different techniques to examine public expenditure. They include Value for Money […]
Ahead of PAI’s Annual Public Procurement Conference 2022, Speaker and Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Member, Úna Butler gives some background reading to her presentation “Combatting bid-rigging in public procurement”:
Competition and public procurement fit hand in glove. Both look for innovative solutions and value for money that lead to […]
A recent history of the Department of Finance – ‘The Irish Department of Finance, 1959-99’ – charting the ups and downs of the Irish economy over a period of four decades was written by Dr Ciarán Casey, economic historian. The Department has been at the centre of the public governance […]
The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the crucial role that regulation plays in managing the economy and society. In its latest report, the OECD discusses how regulatory practices can be further improved having learned from the experience of the past two years. The report is entitled 2021 Regulatory Policy Outlook and can be accessed […]
The Climate Action Plan 2021, published in November 2021, has set a target of a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and a target of net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. Every economic sector is expected to make its contribution. The commercial semi-State sector is […]
The current EU Directive for Environmental Impact Assessments contains specific references to mitigating the impact of climate change. It now requires EIAs to include a description of the significant effects of projects on the environment resulting from, inter alia – “the impact of the project on climate (for example the […]
To assess regulatory governance, the OECD and the EU joined force to publish a report last month entitled Better Regulation Practices across the European Union 2022. The report argues that by ensuring integrated approaches to the design, delivery, and review of regulations, all EU Member States can achieve a seamless […]
Edward Donelan’s book should be recommended reading for practitioners and students of regulatory governance – see Box 1. In producing this book, Donelan draws from varied experience as a barrister, a legislative drafter, an OECD advisor and as an independent consultant. There is much one can learn about changes in […]
