The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan T.D., welcomed the publication of the first Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review (LGER) Implementation Group.

Minister Hogan said: "We have had a lot of talk about local government reform over the past decade. That reform programme is already underway with the sector achieving over €195million savings through efficiency measures in 2010 and 2011 alone.

"One of the key aims of local government reform is to ensure that good value public services are delivered at local level with maximum efficiency. The sector has saved €830 million since 2008 and a further €150 million in direct efficiency savings will be targeted over the next 18 months, while maintaining existing services."

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Minister Hogan welcomed the ongoing rationalisation of staffing within the local government sector: "With savings of €288 million on staff, the sector has already achieved the highest proportionate staffing reduction of any sector in the public service, with staff numbers reduced by 8,432 (or 23%) from 37,243 in mid-2008 to 28,811 at March 2012, involving significant reduction in senior management grades.

"The establishment of a new dedicated Public Service Reform Oversight Group in the local government sector with the capacity and mandate to manage and deliver the reform programme through all county and city councils is an important contribution to delivery and reporting on efficiency gains," Minister Hogan continued. "The easier savings have started to be delivered, now the focus will be on spreading further cost-saving methods and on developing strong sectoral and shared services approaches. Other savings will be made through procurement, debt collection measures and standardisation of business processes across the sector nationally to streamline efficiency." Minister Hogan also committed to keeping the processes to identifying and delivering efficiencies in the sector under ongoing review.

(CD)