John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

That should go right across the board. We must become more efficient and 10% or another percentage point should be taken off the back office in terms of promotional material and all that goes on there. That is the saving that should be made. If they make a saving over and above that, it should go back to delivering front-line services to their customers. That is the type of imaginative approach we need in the public sector to reform it and make the sector as efficient as the private sector. I am not talking about individuals but the system within which they work. Having said what I said about ISO9000 I ask that all Secretaries General examine that and begin to benchmark themselves in a real way against the private sector.

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