Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to introduce changes in public service management that would create more accountability of senior managers. [17174/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, senior managers in the public service are already subject to a wide range of accountability measures. Public servants are accountable to the Oireachtas through their appearances before joint committees and the Committee of Public Accounts. They are also subject to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General and to wider scrutiny through the operation of the freedom of information legislation and the work of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Public Service Management Act 1997 requires Secretaries General and heads of office to prepare and report on statements of strategy and makes them more directly responsible and accountable for the day-to-day management of their Departments and offices. Such responsibilities and accountability can, in turn, be assigned to other officials. In addition, annual output statements must be submitted by Departments and offices to the Oireachtas in conjunction with the annual Estimates, a system which demands a rigorous approach to the management of all resources across the Civil Service.

The introduction of an integrated Performance Management and Development System, PMDS, places a strong emphasis on individual performance and accountability and the integration of this system with other human resource processes increases the level of accountability for individuals. While much has been achieved in improving the performance and accountability of public servants, I would be the first to recognise that there remains room for further improvement, consistent of course with maintaining the respective roles of Ministers and officials.

Building on the recommendations of the OECD review of the Irish public service, the report of the task force on the public service, Transforming Public Services, identified the improvement of individual and organisational performance, in the context of clearer target outputs and outcomes, as a key priority. The task force made a number of recommendations, including the extension of annual output statements and PMDS to the wider public service. Work on the implementation of the task force recommendations is being overseen by the Cabinet committee on transforming public services.

The proposals recently negotiated at Croke Park provide for the advancement of the next steps in increased accountability at organisational and individual level. These include proposals that merit-based, competitive promotion policies will be the norm; that there will be significantly improved performance management across all public service areas, with promotion and incremental progression linked in all cases to performance; that performance management systems will be introduced in all areas of the public service where none currently exists. Each of these measures should incentivise public servants to achieve performance targets and improve their accountability for same.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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We have seen in recent times appalling failure in public service, in terms of the regulator's office and FÁS, which has been rewarded by golden handshakes. What type of signal does this send out in terms of accountability?

The Government consistently states in respect of this disaster into which we have plunged, economically, that it acted at all times on the best advice available. Is this not a cop-out when all this so-called best advice remains anonymous? Did the Minister read the article by a well respected commentator on public service reform which described the track record in execution of major policy strategies as suffering from implementation deficit disorder. It is also stated in that article that the Department of Finance is incapable of leading reform in the public service and that it, more than any Department, needs radical reform. What is the Minister's response to that level of critique?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Bruton has ranged far and wide in terms of the questions he asked. In response to his final question, I did read the articles on the performance of my Department. The senior officials of my Department have in recent years worked extremely hard and diligently in difficult circumstances. That has been my personal direct experience of the Department. I am sure Deputies Bruton and Burton would share that perception. The best way therefore to read the article in question is in terms of identifying what deeper structural issues arise in the criticism made of all Departments, including the Department of Finance, which require to be addressed. I agree with the article in one respect, namely, that the cult of the generalist has been glorified in our public services to an extent that the development of specialised knowledge and information is an important issue in Departments.

For example, I had to go outside conventional recruitment procedures to recruit a bank analyst for my Department. The question of the ongoing development of suitable skills in different Departments that pertain to the core activities of those Departments is equally important.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I do not wish to rush the Minister but a number of Deputies are offering.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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A number of Departments take the view that a person employed therein as an accountant should act as an accountant, a person designated an economist should act as an economist and a lawyer should act as lawyer. In my view, these skills should be more widely defused throughout the public service in the general grades as distinct from the specialised grades. This matter is under examination in my Department.

On the other criticism made in the article to which Deputy Bruton referred, there appears to be a suggestion that one can confuse the responsibility of the Minister and that of the civil servant to the extent that the civil servant must warn the Minister every time he or she makes a decision that he or she may be wrong. I do not believe that is possible under our system.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I call Deputy Burton on a brief supplementary.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Does the Minister agree that under our system leadership is crucial in motivating people? In the foreseeable future, senior managers and the rest of us will have to manage our resources better with less; this is the critical challenge. In that context, there seems to be virtually no accountants or qualified economists with commercial experience or a range of other qualifications, with the exception of information technology qualifications, employed directly in the Minister's Department. At the time of the banking crisis, I had dealings with the Minister's Department officials. Their incapacity to analyse information about the banks was terrifyingly restrictive.

What impact is the industrial relations dispute having? For example, I understand the flow of information about costs and estimates is extensively limited in the health services. Have the management in the health services and other Departments taken any action to deal with the drying up of the flow of information?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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While agreeing with the general direction of what Deputy Burton suggested, there is a high level of economic expertise within the Department of Finance and a broad range of qualifications throughout the general grades as well as in any technical positions the Department may have.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are very few accountants.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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This was gone through in a previous parliamentary question. There is a substantial amount of qualified economic expertise in the Department.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are no accountancy experts.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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No, but I accepted that. I was simply making a correction to what the Deputy stated for the record because it was dealt with previously in a parliamentary question. I refer to the question of the impact of the limited industrial action. This has had an impact on the flow of information from the HSE because the industrial action has taken place at a very high level within the service, including at a level just below the highest grade. This had inhibited the flow of information to the Government from the HSE.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Does the Minister intend to prioritise any area for change in the public sector? Is there any specific sector which should be prioritised for management change, for example, the HSE, which was cited by Deputy Burton just now? We are aware the Taoiseach once characterised the Department of Health and Children as Angola. Should the Minister, therefore, prioritise the HSE for change?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I take the view that in respect of the HSE, education, the Prison Service, the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces, line Departments are responsible for the implementation of the public service reform agenda whereas my Department is responsible for public service change in the line Departments, including that which the Deputy compared to a certain west African State.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It was the Taoiseach, not me.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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He made the comparison in a former incarnation, but I accept the point. That is the focus of my Department and myself. The quality of decision making and performance can be enhanced and improved from top to bottom in that organisation. This is one of the reasons the Croke Park agreement is so important.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Solid proposals were put forward. Does the Minister support the establishment of a Department of public service reform to cut through this problem? Does he support accountability with consequences, which does not mean golden handshakes? Does the Minister support publishing advice such that people can determine what advice was tendered and acted upon and such that there can be genuine accountability?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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When I refer to acting on advice I do not do so to justify my decision. I arrive at decisions as a Minister. When I refer to advice I do so to rebut any suggestion of corruption, impropriety or listening to wrong representations.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister has defended decisions on the basis of acting on the best available advice.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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These allegations have been flung around the House.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am not flinging anything around the House.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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No. I have no wish to go there but they must be rebutted at every opportunity.

I refer to the question of publishing advice. I made the point that the Minister is politically responsible for decisions and the Minister must take political responsibility in this House for decisions. Civil servants advise on these decisions but Ministers make them. I do not believe the endless publication of advice will improve matters. The Freedom of Information Act has seen a very good improvement in public administration and has thrown a wealth of information into the public domain already in respect of decision making processes. When it comes to the point of a decision, the exemptions provided for in the Freedom of Information Act are wise.