Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It is a bit like the drainage in the Shannon — there is nothing new in this and there has been talk about public service reform for a very long time. This did not begin with the publication of the OECD report on the public service. It has been a constant revolving issue from the 1960s and the landmark Devlin report followed by many reports, reviews, recommendations and strategies since.

The Taoiseach has always been fond of referring to the need to develop better outcomes for our citizens, a concept everybody shares. In reviewing this matter he would do well to read of the Delivering Better Government report which was produced by the rainbow Government in 1996. The then Taoiseach, former Deputy John Bruton, said that "a more results and performance oriented civil service is essential". There are some brilliant people in the public service. There is considerable frustration in the service because of structures that have been established, which block many people and prevent them from giving of their best. Under the heading, Achieving the Vision, the document made the point that "in order to deliver the greater professionalism, the openness and flexibility, the quality and customer orientation and the results and outcome focus required, a significant change must take place", which is self-explanatory.

I welcome the OECD report and its focus on outcomes, increasing the pace of reform, a more integrated public service, better networking, greater flexibility and mobility. Many of these concepts are not new and have been around for some time. Many of them were flagged in that report in 1996. If one were to characterise or summarise the conclusions of the OECD report, it would be as "significant room for improvement". The main flaws identified by the OECD was the paradox of a small country with a highly fragmented public service, with barriers to the movement of people, skills and experience, which make it difficult to reallocate resources from declining to emerging priorities. There are dead-end units in many Departments where people cannot transfer and there is not the flexibility one would normally require.

Without significant reform, the OECD warned that decentralisation would lead to further fragmentation. Deputy Bruton has carried out an extensive analysis of this issue over the years. There is a weak management and performance culture, from Ministers down, whereas performance should be key. When we had the privilege of being appointed as Ministers I remember the then Taoiseach recommending that we should decide on three or four priorities in our Departments and go after them because if we did not do so we would get buried in the trenches of the Department and never be seen again. It was good advice and I am sure the Taoiseach has given similar advice to his newly appointed Ministers.

The OECD also criticised the habit of creating new agencies. Deputy Varadkar pointed out almost 1,000 quangos nationally for every problem. Some 200 new quangos have been created since 1997, which is one for every Dáil sitting week. Some of them have gone into production and we have sons of quangos. The really frustrating thing is that this is not the first time these weaknesses were made self-evident. The PA Consulting report in 2002 came to the same conclusion. Since 2004, when the Taoiseach was Minister for Finance, he has been responsible for solving these problems and ensuring taxpayers' money was well spent, but that has not happened.

In the ten years since the publication of Delivering Better Government the pace of public sector reform, which quickened appreciably during the early to mid-1990s, has slackened off. At a time of abundant resources, the drive to link reform to additional spending was not maintained. Too often soft options were taken — throwing money at a problem, setting up an agency or commission, or asking for another report.

The public service faces many challenges. Our economic success and population growth means that many issues are more complex. Expectations from the public, used to cut-throat competition in certain private sector areas, is higher than ever. Ireland has growing responsibilities and obligations from international bodies such as the EU, the WTO etc. In the past ten years, there has been a significant tendency at Government level to plan for the next election instead of the next generation. Too often, Government focused on immediate and short-term political needs instead of the requirements for the bigger picture and long-term sustainable development.

The OECD report contains many worthwhile and forward-looking recommendations. The dilemma facing the Government, however, is that the opportunity, which the first benchmarking award presented for linking reform to increased remuneration, was missed. The challenge the Government must now face is convincing public servants that reform is not only in the interest of the citizen but also in their own interest. Public servants need to be persuaded that an efficient, effective, well run public service will be a better place to work in, will provide a more rewarding career and will give infinitely greater job satisfaction. Later in the debate, some of my colleagues will touch on specific areas of reform, which we believe are necessary.

I do not want to let the opportunity pass without returning to the importance of citizen-centred or patient-centred services. When an organisation is supposed to be citizen-centred and patient-centred and does not turn out to be that way, it causes a deep-rooted anxiety and negative feeling about "the public service". Ministers are in Government to drive through reform of efficiency where reward for performance is evident and, as a consequence, where there is better efficiency in the public service and much better job satisfaction. The Health Service Executive has in excess of 100,000 employees. It is difficult to unscramble the egg of the HSE. From my experience of dealing with relatively small numbers of HSE staff, I am aware that there are concerned individuals with a vision working in the system but the structures within which they operate create the inability to deliver the service. Public service reform is about giving citizens what they need; response to telephone calls and access to people. Whatever the service, it is important to have a clear agenda and decisiveness of delivery. That is what we all aspire to have.

The Taoiseach is in charge now. I hope when the report comes back before the end of the summer it is realistic and practical and that he will implement it in a realistic way so that there is a return for the taxes people pay in terms of an efficient public service. That is in everybody's interest.

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