Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It may be one of the few but it shows what can happen with the right leadership, the right approach and the right methodology. It can be done. While it may not be uniform across the service it is more prevalent in the service than it is given credit for. By the same token, it is not uniform and is not to the same standard and imagination as the good examples one can provide. That is the benchmark by which every other public service agency, organisation and Department needs to raise their game because that is the way in which we confirm our commitment to public service. That is the way in which we persuade people that the public service delivery mechanism is the best one available. In the absence of being able to meet the expectations of consumers in that respect, people demand other means of providing the service if they are not getting it. The reality has to meet the rhetoric and all of us have to work for that.

Social partnership can raise itself to this challenge on the basis we are all committed to getting the same outcome. It is just a question of applying ourselves to it and setting out a means by which we can do it, based on the very good experience we have had thus far as to how social partnership has been the means by which we have solved many problems, which in the past were regarded as insoluble because people were taking up positions which might be fine in terms on one sectional interest but which did not solve the problem. That is what is at the heart of this process and will determine its success or failure. I do not suggest it is simply a question of the calibre of the management strata of the service that dictate the outcome. Far from it, but without it taking its responsibility to lead, bring people into the process and work with them co-operatively and get the necessary changes to bring benefits to everybody, including those who deliver the services — some in crisis management areas — it is not possible to improve the work environment for those who provide the service in the same way as it is not possible to improve the service for the citizen. These are the challenges. This task force is well equipped to provide a pathway for progress in these areas and get into the business of moving from recommendations to changes on the ground and changes in work organisation and work practice which will be to the benefit of those who work in the public service and provide a renewed sense of direction in regard to where public services are going.

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