Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am aware the Public Service Management Act 1997 made changes to the relationship between Ministers and Secretaries General and sought to place the accountability of the latter on a statutory footing. It was designed as well to minimise agency loss. The idea is that the principal, that is, the Minister, has his or her policy administered by the agent, that is, the Secretary General. However, in an extreme situation, say, where an agent was not happy or found the Minister's decisions and policy changes were undesirable and decided to sabotage them, what avenues are open to Ministers if they feel something like that has happened?