__Review of national non-commercial state agencies in Ireland_ _is a report by IPA Researcher Muiris MacCarthaigh. The report surveys progress in the agency rationalizations announced in Budget 2009 and the An Bord Snip Nua report of last year.

While the overall number of national non-commercial state agencies has decreased slightly to 249 organisations, progress has been slow and a number of issues are delaying progress. They range from the absence to date of legislative provision for those new agencies, which are to result from mergers, to the problem of marrying a wide variety of employment arrangements that exist across the sector.

The report also identifies a wide variety of appointment mechanisms to the over 2,300 positions on Boards and governing authorities of non-commercial state agencies in Ireland. With more agency rationalizations expected later this year, more realistic timeframes will be necessary to realise necessary budgetary savings. The report is available at http://www.ipa.ie/research