Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2026
447. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the legal and policy basis on which full compliance with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies is not required for non-statutory bodies in receipt of public funding; and whether this approach is applied uniformly across Government. [29857/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies applies only to commercial and non-commercial organisations under the aegis of Government Departments. However, there are other types of State or public bodies that are covered by different corporate governance codes.
For instance, the 18 Central Government Departments and the 27 other Vote funded Offices of Government are required to follow the Corporate Governance Standard for the Civil Service introduced by my Department as a key part of its public service reform mandate. Likewise, the 31 Local Authorities follow the Local Government Code of Governance published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The Central Statistics Office in its Register of Public Bodies includes many non-statutory public bodies that are deemed to be under public control for statistical accounting purposes. However, many of these bodies are not owned by the State even if they are providing public services on behalf of Government Departments. These public bodies, as defined by the CSO include voluntary sector agencies that are often formed as companies limited by guarantee. Such incorporated public bodies formed in this manner can be legally independent of Government, but for the most part depend on the State for most of their funding needs. Many of these companies classified as public bodies by the CSO have been registered as charities by the Charities Regulator and, consequently, are required in their annual report to indicate compliance with the Charities Governance Code.
It is vital that all public bodies adhere to the best practice in corporate governance and comply with the relevant corporate governance code for their organisation type.
