Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Public Accounts Committee
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Vote 11 - Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 2 - Collection of Pension Contributions due to the Exchequer
Chapter 3 - Control of Funding for Voted Public Services
Chapter 5 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Vote 11 - Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 95: Financial Reporting in the Public Sector
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 99: Public Sector Financial Reporting for 2015
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 100: Public Sector Financial Reporting for 2016
9:00 am
Mr. Robert Watt:
On the professionalisation of the Civil Service, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was established in 2011. Since 2012, when we commenced the development of the Civil Service renewal programme, a significant focus has been on professionalisation of the Civil Service. It is a fair critique of the service that over the previous 15 or 20 years it has moved from a professional service to a generalist service. We need generalist civil servants because they have a professional capacity as administrators but alongside this we need professionals in the area of accountancy, economics, auditing, tax and actuaries. There are many staff in the Department with specialised capacity but we need to continue to build up this expertise.
On human resources, professional HR is critical. I find astounding the notion that one could run an organisation of scale that involves people without people with professional qualifications in human resources. The same applies in regard to audit, accountancy and financial and economic services. If one wants to build a bridge one employs an engineer to do it because an engineer would do the best job. This philosophy needs to be within our system. We are professionalising very significantly. Increasingly, the recruitment we do is for specific tasks and activities. Any agency, particularly agencies that are involved in delivering for citizens, for example, IT projects or buildings, must have the expertise because it is a specific function.
On the Harold's Cross site - I am aware that the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills will be before the committee this afternoon - it would not be acceptable for any transaction to be organised in a way to bail out another body. The valuation should be the valuation. What the Department of Education and Skills pays has to be based on a valuation that is provided by the relevant body or authority. It cannot be that one part of the State - I am sure the Secretary General will confirm this - decides to buy a site, the implication of which is to reduce the debts of another.