Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy used pejorative words like "slashing". The bottom line is that if every organisation of State was to do things more effectively and efficiently - which it can do - we would produce much more for less by transforming the way we provide services. I know that the Deputy would not be so backward as to think we could not modernise the Civil Service or that we should stay in a frozen state.

As I announced on budget day last month, I will seek to put in place new arrangements to replace the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service from 2015 onwards. This will be subject to the issuance of formal delegated sanction by my Department to all other Departments and offices in return for agreed commitments by them to manage staff resources within agreed pay ceilings and meet ongoing reform and efficiency objectives. Under the new arrangements which my Department has begun to discuss in detail with the other Departments, sectoral managers will be incentivised to make further savings. Where these are achieved - for example, by recasting the grade mix or reassigning duties or introducing more efficient work practices, all of which are normal ways of doing business - such savings can be reinvested in expanding services to meet increased demand, including hiring more staff, where appropriate. There will be restrictions and controls to prevent unwarranted grade drift and unsustainable recruitment and, of course, recruitment will be carried by the Public Appointments Service in the normal way and open to open competition.

The Deputy will be aware that the moratorium was first introduced as an emergency measure in response to the fiscal crisis that struck the public finances under the last Administration and as a policy instrument, it has made an important contribution on two fronts. First, it has helpedto deliver more than €3 billion in Exchequer pay bill savings, which is a huge contribution to the repairing of the public finances. Second, since 2011 in particular, it has served to help drive reform across the public service, underpinning programmes to introduce new and more efficient ways of delivering public services across the system.

We have produced a number of reform plans with which the Deputy is familiar. It is transforming the way the State deals with citizens, making it much more transparent, open and, I hope, efficient.

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Nonetheless, in the course of framing the second public service reform plan which I launched at the beginning of the year it became clear to me that an emergency measure such as the moratorium was not conducive to long-term, sustainable reform and service provision.It is simply not something that any major organisation can or should wish to sustain over a long period, which is why the new reform plan contained a commitment to introduce more flexibility at the operational level. In the context of the budget, therefore, having regard to our much improved fiscal position which allowed the Government to bring an end to spending cuts, I decided to accelerate implementation of the reform commitment and work towards introducing the new arrangements early next year.

This change in policy is not about giving a blanket sanction for widespread recruitment or promotion across the public service, nor does it signal an end to the efficiency drive that has defined public service reform in the past few years; rather, it is about giving those who are best placed - front-line managers - a degree of freedom in the management of staff resources to meet the demands they face. With this comes responsibility to make the right decisions, continue to implement reform and continue to achieve efficiency gains. That requirement will be reflected in the terms and conditions of the sanction being finalised. As outlined in the reform plan, the policy objective in this change of approach is twofold: to continue to contain the cost of delivering public services at affordable and sustainable levels in the medium term; and to allow the public service to respond and adapt quickly to the needs of the citizen.

Regarding recruitment to the Civil Service, about which the Deputy asks specifically, the Public Appointment Service has begun a number of open competitions, including at clerical and graduate grades. Some more will follow in 2015, with the dual aim of bringing new people and new skills into the public service and addressing any imbalance which may have developed during the operation of the moratorium. The competitions run by the Public Appointment Service are advertised nationally and open to all suitably qualified candidates.

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