Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will examine that. Currently, contract workers are not really in the system. Like advisers, they operate on a different contract basis. If one was a contract worker for a number of years, one would fall considerably behind his or her benchmarked colleagues.

The Department's management group is examining the initiatives it would like to have included in the Civil Service performance verification group's deliberations in the next round. This would include extending it into e-Cabinet and Cabinet sub-committees. The Cabinet element and movement within Departments have been well bedded down. However, they are examining other extensions that are three years away. Issues ranging from the knowledge society to dealing with EU business have been raised in the customer surveys. There are other areas where Departments see potential for further modernisation. There are also regular circulars on modernisation issued by the Department of Finance to other Departments.

No decision has yet been made on the operation of bonus payments for civil servants, but it is an issue. In the last round of benchmarking, those who prepared the report stated that the issue of bonuses should be examined and the Government should take a view on it. It is a difficult issue to deal with and it was not dealt with in the last round. I am in favour of it in principle, but we need to examine how it can work best. If senior officials within one Department were to receive bonus payments, what does it say about senior officials in another Department? Perhaps the former were dealing with hotter political issues or more difficult legislation. Those are some of the problems that arise. On the other hand, it is somewhat unfair if an able individual is out-performing his or her colleagues, yet only gets paid the same as everybody else. The practice in industry is fairer in that if one is a top performer, one will be in line for bonuses. It is not an unreasonable position. Because the whole theory of benchmarking is based on the comparison between industry and the public service, the issue of bonuses is one that needs to be addressed. While I do not have the answer as to how this can be done, it requires further examination.

See this speech in context