Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Does the Minister agree that under our system leadership is crucial in motivating people? In the foreseeable future, senior managers and the rest of us will have to manage our resources better with less; this is the critical challenge. In that context, there seems to be virtually no accountants or qualified economists with commercial experience or a range of other qualifications, with the exception of information technology qualifications, employed directly in the Minister's Department. At the time of the banking crisis, I had dealings with the Minister's Department officials. Their incapacity to analyse information about the banks was terrifyingly restrictive.

What impact is the industrial relations dispute having? For example, I understand the flow of information about costs and estimates is extensively limited in the health services. Have the management in the health services and other Departments taken any action to deal with the drying up of the flow of information?

See this speech in context