Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 31 subsection (3), between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following paragraph:

"(e) to develop a system under which the public service would benchmark their operations against international best practice;".

It has to be said that we have one of the best public services in the world but it does no harm to go beyond our own thinking and compare ourselves to other international Civil Service systems. One of the few benefits of having been under English rule for so many years is that the Civil Service we inherited has worked effectively since the foundation of the State. We should be encouraged to go beyond our borders to investigate international best practice, although it is possible that we may not find any better one than our own.