Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Public service reform is one of the fundamental and critical issues faced by the country. The Department of Finance said recently that it wants responsibility for this to be vested in that Department. The Minister for Finance has ordered an examination of how the Department does its business. However, I understand that only two officials in the Department have banking expertise and that there are no statisticians at all in the Department. The Taoiseach has allocated responsibility for public service reform to my constituency colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Dara Calleary. Given that reform is so fundamental to the efficient provision of services across all Departments and Government agencies, does the Taoiseach not consider this to warrant real clout at Cabinet, with direct input from the Taoiseach's office, to make it work?

The Fine Gael Party took a particular view on the Croke Park agreement. We would like to see the deal go through and would honour the pay element of it, with a different mandate in respect of public service reform. This is a win-win situation for the trade unions, the people who work in the public service and the general public. As Head of Government, does the Taoiseach not think this issue deserves one of the most powerful Ministers to drive it through all Departments? I say this with respect to Deputy Calleary, who has been given responsibility for this matter.

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