Dr. Niall Muldoon:

No other Government and no other business in the world recruits through a panel where people are contacted by phone on Friday afternoon to be told they have 24 hours to say whether they want to go to Kerry or Donegal, or whether they want to work with children or older adults. People should be able to apply for the jobs they want and move on from there. I understand the concept underpinning this approach, which is that it allows for a geographical fit. There is a balance to be struck, however. If people on a panel are contacted to say that there is an opening in Clare, it is possible that someone on the panel will want it. Similarly, someone might want to do the actual job. I think there is a way of doing it. The improvements that are needed must come from within the Civil Service. The political parties must push for such improvements. I suggest that the pathfinder approach represents the Civil Service forming its own new way of doing things.