Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Deputy placing a focus on this. We might find an opportunity, perhaps at a committee, to discuss it because this is the culmination of two streams of work.

The Civil Service Renewal Plan, which I launched with the Taoiseach last week, is the product of a year-long engagement involving more than 2,000 staff and stakeholders. It brings together the outcomes of two separate but related streams of work: the work of the independent panel on strengthening Civil Service accountability and performance; and the work of the Civil Service renewal task force, which was a group of civil servants that went around the country talking to civil servants.

The renewal plan, approved by Government, aims to build the capability of the Civil Service so it can meet the needs and expectations of the Government and the public into the future. More than 2,000 staff and stakeholders made formal contributions to the development of the vision "to provide a world-class service to the State and the people of Ireland" and a practical plan with 25 actions will be delivered within the three-year timeline that we have set out.

The four areas of focus are: a unified Civil Service - a breakaway from the silos that have caused problems in the past - managing the Civil Service as a single, unified organisation; a professional Civil Service - maximising performance and potential of all civil servants to do their job effectively; a responsive Civil Service - changing our culture, structure and processes so that they become more agile and more flexible to meet the changing environment; and a more open and accountable Civil Service - continuously learning and upskilling. Details of the plan and the two related documents on staff engagement and background data are available at www.per.gov.ie.

I note the point the Deputy McDonald made about gender, that, while 60% of the Civil Service overall is women, not enough are managers. We have migrated from 25% to 30% at the top, but we should have equality at the top and we need to have mechanisms to do that.

See this speech in context