Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Management Board Meeting
22 June 2015 – 12pm
South Block – Secretary General’s Room
Agenda
1. Minutes of Meeting held on 15 June 2015
2. Key Policy Issues/Events of the week
3. Memoranda update
4. Accommodation update
5. AOB
For noting:

Minutes of the Audit Committee meeting

Risk Review
6. Corporate Issues – Allocation and Management of Human Resources
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Management Board Meeting 22 June 2015
Attendance
Secretary General, Mr Moloney, Ms Coleman, Ms. Murphy-Fagan, Ms. Buckley, Ms
O’Donohue, Ms. Hanlon, Mr. Quinn, Mr. O’Leary, Mr O’Brien, Mr. Beausang, Dr Quinn, Mr.
Nolan, Ms. Martinez, Ms Codd
Apologies - Ms Comerford
1.
Minutes of meeting held on 15 June 2015 – the minutes were agreed.
2.
Key Policy Issues/Events of the week – the Minister’s diary, Government Agenda, Dáil
and Seanad Schedules for the week were discussed. Today Minister Howlin will
formally launch Benefacts – a new website that will provide up-to-date detailed
financial and governance data on non-profits in Ireland. The Government Meeting will
take place on Tuesday morning while the Economic Management Council will meet
later in the week. On Thursday morning, Minister Howlin will speak at the launch of a
series of Workshops by the IPA for Chairs of State bodies. Later on Thursday morning
Minister Howlin will hold a meeting with a Chinese delegation led by Mr HE Lifeng,
Executive Vice-President of the Chinese Government’s National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) after which the Minister will speak at a Public Affairs
Ireland Conference on the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. On Thursday afternoon,
Minister Howlin will travel to Galway to visit the Payroll Shared Services Centre.
Ms O’Donohue updated the Board on the Office of the Government Chief Information
Office including the progress on the move to Spencer Dock, the ICT Strategy and
discussions being scheduled for this week with the Reform and Open Data sides to
discuss the approach on Digital First and the query received from the C&AG’s relating
to the development of the Public Services Card.
Mr Quinn updated the board for the Office of Government Procurement including the
Heads of Bill for which drafting is complete and a submission to the Secretary General
and Minister will be made today, the ongoing support to the Department of Health on
Pharma and an update on last week’s Meet the Buyer event which was held on
Wednesday in Belfast and had an estimated 400+ businesses attending.
Ms Hanlon provided an update for the Expenditure Policy, Management and
Evaluation Division including an update on the progress of the Capital Review and the
National Economic Dialogue.
Ms Coleman provided an update for the board on Expenditure Management, EU Policy
and Audit Division including the Oireachtas (Appointments to certain Offices) Bill for
which Committee stage in the Dáil is set for 1st July. Updates were also provided in
respect of the Capital Review and the Climate & Energy Framework.
Dr Quinn updated the Board for the Reform and Delivery Office including the Civil
Service Management Board meeting, the launch of Benefacts later today and the
progress to complete the priority actions of the Civil Service Renewal plan within the
first 200 days.
Ms. Murphy Fagan provided an update to the Board on the National Shared Services
Office including a status update on resourcing in PeoplePoint, the continuing
preparations for wave 4 transitions in the Payroll Shared Service Centre and Minister
Howlin’s visit to the Centre on Thursday.
Ms Buckley updated the Board for Remuneration, Industrial Relations and Pensions
Division including industrial relations issues arising and the Universal Retirement
Savings Group sub-committee on operational detail meeting this week.
Mr Moloney provided an update for the Labour Market and Enterprise Policy Division
including Health spending, the Pathways to Work scheme and the new Code of
practice for State Bodies.
Mr Beausang updated the board for the Government Reform Unit including the Data
Sharing and Governance Bill, the Statute Law Revision Act, 2015, the extension of
Ombudsman’s remit to include private nursing homes, the Regulation of Lobbying Act,
2015, the proposal to amend the Public Service Management Act & Civil Service
Regulations Act and the Open Data Strategy Event due to be held on 30 June 2015.
3.
Memoranda Update – the list of memos was discussed by the Board.
4.
Accommodation Update –The Office of Public Works have been planning for
extensive renovations of the two main buildings on the Merrion campus over the last
few months. The work will involve extensive mechanical, electrical and structural work
over the next twelve months. Given the nature of the work it will be necessary for staff
to vacate offices and decant to other offices for a period of around 4-6 weeks to allow
the work to be completed. The first tranche of work will start over the summer. The
remaining work will be scheduled later in the year.
5.
AOB

Audit Committee Minutes – Mr Nolan advised the Board that one of the action
points from the last Audit Committee meeting requested that all minutes of the
Committee be sent to the Management Board and the Governance Committee for
information and in this regard the minutes for all the meeting since 2013 were
distributed to the Management Board. In the future the minutes will be forwarded
on a quarterly basis to the Management Board for their information.

Risk Review – The Risk Review Document which will be presented to the Audit
Committee on Thursday was noted by the Board.
Next meeting Monday 29 June 2015