A MAJOR REVIEW of government spending is expected to be signed off on by the Cabinet today which could lead to a significant reduction in the number of quangos as well as a sell off of State assets.

The Irish Times reports that a special meeting of the cabinet later today will consider proposals to sell off a number of State assets as part of the comprehensive spending review being driven by minister for public expenditure Brendan Howlin.

The review would include a “root and branch” examination of government departments and agencies including quangos (Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisations).

The review is also expected to examine possible reforms to local authority systems and it is understood that each government department will be asked to review how it spends its budget and how services are delivered.

The review will then feed into the budgetary process for next year.

In addition, minister for communications Pat Rabbitte has said that public service workers pay could be cut again unless there are significant savings under the Croke Park Agreement.

Speaking on RTÉ’s ‘The Week in Politics’ he said that progress must be made on voluntary redundancies and that fewer workers would have to pick up the slack.

Otherwise pay would have to be reduced again, he added.