PROFILE:Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes
COLM McCARTHY
A lecturer in economics at UCD and chair of the “Special Group”, he first coined the name An Bord Snip for the committee established in 1987 during the then economic crisis, to identify government spending cuts. He chaired that committee and reprised the role for An Bord Snip Nua.
Noted for his plain speaking and blunt humour, he suggested during the 1980s crisis that the Department of Foreign Affairs should close down any embassy the minister could not name when asked to list them. A founding member of Davy, Kelleher, McCarthy Consultants (DKM), he was educated at St Josephs, Fairview, Dublin, UCD and the University of Essex. A former Central Bank employee, he also worked for the ESRI.
DONAL McNALLY
He has been second secretary general at the Department of Finance since 2000, in charge of the budget and economic division, whose responsibilities also include economic policy, forecasting and the development of the IFSC. As secretary general he is Ireland’s representative on the EU’s tax policy group.
Mr McNally (56) joined the civil service in 1969 and moved to the Department of Finance in 1986. From Dublin, he studied economics at Dublin University (TCD).
MAURICE O'CONNELL
He served as governor of the Central Bank from 1994 to 2002. Before his appointment to the Central Bank he served as secretary general of the Department of Finance.
From Kerry, he was the Central Bank’s governor when it expressed concern in 2001 about a property bubble and warned that house prices could fall dramatically.
Last year he prepared a report for the National Roads Authority, following an oral hearing he chaired into objections to toll increases ahead of the move to barrier free tolling on the M50.
PAT McLAUGHLIN
Chief executive of the Irish Payment Services Organisation and former deputy chief executive of the Health Service Executive.
Mr McLaughlin was the first director of the National Hospitals Office from January 2005 until December of that year, when he resigned in a row over his pension and allowances.
He said at the time the Department of Finance failed to sanction a special allowance for him as deputy CEO of the HSE and failed to grant him an entitlement, like former health board CEOs of up to 10 years of added pension benefits when he finished his five-year contract with the HSE.
His resignation was a major blow to the HSE as he was regarded in health and political circles as a major innovator and had made significant progress in hospital services.
WILLIAM SLATTERY
Managing director of the Irish division of State Street International, the US-based financial services holding company. State Street Ireland has 2,000 employees, some 8 per cent of the company’s total workforce. State Street provides financial services to institutional investors.
From Tipperary, he is a former Central Bank deputy head of banking supervision. In 2000 he highlighted the significant increases in personal borrowing by Irish consumers and predicted that the level of credit could result in systemic problems and a house price crash.
He chaired Financial Services Ireland, the lobby group for the financial services industry, from 2002 to 2005.
MARY WALSH
A chartered accountant, she is a former partner of PriceWaterhourseCoopers, and a member of the Commission on Taxation. The commission, established in 2008, is conducting a root-and-branch review of the tax system and is due to report shortly to the Minister for Finance.
Ms Walsh worked as tax adviser for and was a partner in Coopers Lybrand before its merger into PWC and in 1996 was named in an international survey of accountancy firms as the best individual tax adviser.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
- Review the scope for reducing or discontinuing expenditure programmes with a view to eliminating the current budget deficit by 2011.
- Make recommendations on reallocation of staffing or expenditure resources between public service organisations as appropriate to deliver the objectives set out in the Programme for Government.
- Examine and make recommendations for further rationalisation of State agencies beyond the rationalisation proposals and principles set out in Budget 2009.
