Seanad debates
Thursday, 27 March 2003
Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Bill 2002: Second Stage.
It is interesting, in light of conditions improving in the long term, that the report indicates that only 19% of the workforce is engaged in the education, health, public administration and defence sectors. We are ahead of Portugal, Greece and Spain, but behind all other EU partners, in terms of the size of our public service. Sweden is top of the range at 31%. In relative terms, we do not have an overly large public service. I accept that our defence forces are small in comparison with those of many of our partners and this may account for some of the difference. Overall, however, we should not be of the opinion that, particularly in comparison with those of other countries, our public service is bloated.
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