Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I understand that the remarks to which the Deputy refers are those concerning reform of the public sector contained in the speech delivered by my colleague on 12 September. The Minister of State, Deputy John McGuinness, has made it clear that the remarks as delivered reflected his own personal views. The views expressed are some of many sets of views as to how the public sector should be conducting its business on behalf of the taxpayer in 2008 and beyond.

The Government has listened to views from all sides of public sector reform debate and decided on a course of action that involved asking the OECD to undertake a review of the Irish public sector. The OECD Report on Public Sector Reform, which was launched in April of this year, contains a set of key recommendations that we have committed to implement. We have established a task force, whose membership includes respected figures from the private sector, to drive this agenda and I, together with my colleagues in government, will not be found wanting should difficult decisions on reform be required.

It is my view and experience that there are many excellent people working within the public service, many of whom receive modest salaries in return for a lifetime of service to the public. That said, real problems exist. There is a need for more flexibility in the delivery of services to the public, much greater efficiency and better value for money and for further modernisation of systems and working practices. The OECD's report reflects my views. It recognises the value of the extensive reform efforts undertaken to date in customer service, e-Government, human resources, financial management and better regulation. Implementation of the quality customer service programme has brought about improvements visible to citizens. The performance management development system, PMDS, has resulted in better functioning individual organisations.

Notwithstanding these improvements and reforms, the OECD clearly identified the challenges that remain. It indicates that if we can better sequence future reforms, we can further improve performance and service delivery and achieve greater efficiencies. Furthermore, many of the reform initiatives we have introduced to date have focused largely on the Civil Service, which represents only one tenth of the public sector, as opposed to the broader public service. The public sector needs continuously to review its systems, processes and procedures to ensure that it is responsive and efficient and that it provides high quality, value for money services. In other words, citizens need to be sure that the public service will deliver the services they expect when, where and as needed.

The OECD's message is clear, as is mine. We must put the public at the centre of our public services. That is our ambition in government and it is at the core of how we are approaching the process of public sector reform.

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