Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On occasion I have heard the Deputy and members of his party state there are too many administrators in the Health Service Executive. This arose because a superstructure was placed on top of the old health board system when the HSE was established. Most believe there is scope for de-manning in the HSE, which has identified 1,500 positions that could be eliminated. Over-manning has also been identified in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which has identified 300 positions, and a number of other areas.

The notion that it is good to keep people artificially employed runs counter to the need to have efficient public services. People want to ensure they get value for money. The Government has determined that there will not be compulsory redundancies and I hope we will yet have an agreement that will protect this determination. However, this may not be possible. We need to reach the target numbers by being more efficient. We have achieved a great deal in recent years, including a large number of efficiencies, as is manifest in our ability to protect front-line services with fewer people doing different things. Every company in the country is doing this, as it seeks to become more efficient. We are using new technologies to deliver public services. There appears to be a notion that the public service should be moribund, get caught in a warp or refuse to use new technologies, shared services or have online access to services.

For example, anyone who wishes to tax his or her car does so online rather than by filling out a form and making a payment at his or her local authority office. Some 400 services are available online now and even more are going to come on stream. This is the way forward.

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