Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The e-government potential is outlined in the report, as has been said. A team has been set up for the purpose of transforming public services under this report. All the agencies and Departments are to submit their e-government plans by the end of June, at which stage we can proceed.

I refer to the question of redeployment across the public service, flexibility and moving between Departments and agencies and getting flexibility across the public service generally. The first recommendation in that regard was to address, in the first instance, the position in the Civil Service and to proceed from there. The Minister for Finance and I are finalising our discussions on that matter so that we will have an established senior Civil Service which will allow for flexibility to move people around as required, with the benefits that brings to everyone, rather than to confine them to exclusively departmental careers.

The third issue raised by the Deputy also relates to the question of redeployment. Discussions on the question of redeployment are taking place in the context of the social partnership discussions. The decisions the Minister announced recently about early retirement and voluntary cessation of employment, etc., are being assessed in the context of the budget as a whole. It is obvious that any such measures would lead to major changes in certain organisations, depending on the demand for them. We need to consider how such changes can be facilitated without decreasing the effectiveness of organisations. That is the trick to be done in relation to all of that area.

There is progress to be reported in respect of all of the issues that were raised by Deputy Kenny. He suggested that people have been given pay increases without reference to reforms. I remind him that there has been a tie-in in that respect in various social partnership agreements. The report of the task force provides a full and comprehensive means by which we can make progress on all fronts. I refer not only to e-Government and redeployment, but also to other matters that, according to the task force, are the building blocks of a sustainable reform programme. The task force has emphasised the need to motivate workers to improve their performance, to deepen the engagement of citizens, to provide for shared services, to offer training for leadership, to provide for mobility and flexibility within the service, to strengthen the governance of organisations and State agencies and to set out a strategy for implementing all of that.

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