The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes was an advisory committee established by the

Irish government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The gover ...

in 2008 to recommend cuts in public spending. It was chaired by economist Colm McCarthy. It published two volumes of findings, commonly known as the McCarthy report, on 16 July 2009. The group described a potential €5.3bn of savings, including 17,300 public service job cuts and a 5% cut in

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Name

The committee, colloquially dubbed "An Bord Snip Nua" by newspaper journalists, was a committee with a similar remit to one established in 1987, known as "An Bord Snip". ''Bord Snip'' is a mix of English and Irish words that can be translated as "snip board". ''Bord Snip Nua'' means the new Bord Snip. The name is intended to be humorous. Many state agencies in Ireland have the words ''an bord'' (meaning "the board") in their title, such as

Bord Iascaigh Mhara Bord Iascaigh Mhara (; meaning "Sea Fish Board" or "Irish Sea Fisheries Board"; BIM) is the agency of the Irish state with responsibility for developing the Irish marine fishing and aquaculture industries. Originally established under the Sea ...

(the Irish Sea-Fisheries Board); "snip" refers to the cost-cutting remit of the group.

Background

Due to the

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, a construction sector collapse and a fall in bank lending, an

Irish financial crisis The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent pr ...

began in 2008. Tax revenue from

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(a form of sales tax), stamp duty and

capital gains tax A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property. Not all countries impose a c ...

fell sharply. An additional income levy on 1% and 2% was introduced to compensate for some of these falls. The government expected a €6 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year 2009. There were thus calls for the formation of a new board to identify areas for cuts in public expenditure. The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, appointed an expert group to recommend cuts.

Members of the group

* Colm McCarthy, economist at

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* Donal McNally, Second Secretary in the Department of Finance * Maurice O'Connell, former director of Depfa Bank plc and Governor of the

Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland ( ga, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) is Ireland's central bank, and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is the country's financial services regulator for most categories of financial firms ...

* William Slattery, managing director,

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(Ireland) * Mary Walsh, former partner,

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(Ireland) * Pat McLaughlin, business consultant and former Deputy chief executive of the

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Brief

The

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...

, stated that the: "Special Group's examination of all programmes funded through public expenditure will focus on whether scarce financial resources are being deployed to achieve priority policy objectives. The Group will identify options for savings in the context of the Government's fiscal objectives as set out in Budget 2009. It will also ensure that public expenditure is being used to address relevant priority policy objectives in the current fiscal environment." *The group was charged with identifying cuts in spending and staff numbers,

quangos A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

(quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations) that could be merged or abolished, and ways to get better value for taxpayers' money. *The group had scope to examine the terms and conditions, tenure and pension entitlements of new recruits to the public service. *The group was charged with identifying expenditure programmes to be cut or stopped, with a view to eliminating the budget deficit by 2011.

Implementation

In March 2010, Lenihan said that, of the report's 271 recommendations, the government had decided to implement 32 in full and 89 in part, with projected savings for the year estimated at €1.7b. In June, Lenihan said that the government had implemented 42 in full and 103 in part, and that the report remained under consideration.Written Answers – Departmental Reports
Dáil debates, 7 July 2010 Later that year, various ministers answered Dáil questions outlining the savings made by their departments:

References

* Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes
Volume 1 (Prn. A9/0987)Volume 2 (Prn. A9/0988)

Notes

External links

Transforming Public Services programme, Department of the Taoiseach {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccarthy Report Post-2008 Irish economic downturn 2000s in Ireland Brian Cowen Economy of the Republic of Ireland Real estate bubbles of the 2000s