Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I agree with Senators Brian Hayes and O'Toole on this occasion. In the institutes of technology sector, in which I work, the number of students has doubled in the last ten years, the number of administrative staff has increased by an even greater factor and the number of lecturers has gone up by 10%. The result is extraordinary and the same is true in many areas of public service provision. There has been a huge explosion in the numbers of specialist bureaucrats with a limited expansion in the numbers of coalface service providers. If restructuring is to take place, I suggest the Government start at the top rather than at the bottom, as has traditionally been the case. The people who have made the mess are those with managerial responsibility who appointed many of the wrong people to unnecessary jobs.

The report of the three middle-aged men reflects their priorities consistently.