Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, Deputy McDonald raised the issue of the accountability board. It has not met since 2016. In fact, two Governments have now passed and we need to reflect on what are the best accountability mechanisms in terms of civil servants more generally and otherwise. There are internal accountability mechanisms, of course, within the various pieces of legislation, such as the ministerial Act, that govern the role of the Minister and the role of Secretaries General in terms of accountability, benchmarking, standards and so forth. The Civil Service management board was established under the 2014 Civil Service renewal plan. It comprises Secretaries General and heads of offices and is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. It provides a forum, mainly for sharing issues and challenging and strengthening the performance of the Civil Service as a collective. The immediate focus of the board is on overseeing the implementation of the priorities in the Civil Service renewal plan and implementing the ambitious programme of reform in the Civil Service Renewal 2030 strategy and the Civil Service Renewal 2024 action plan. As I stated, the minutes of that meeting are available on the website of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

In terms of wider issues of accountability, there are accountability mechanisms within each Department according to the layers of staff and so on and at different levels-----

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