Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the report of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, the answer is obvious. The criticism that the Garda Síochána is receiving is no different from the criticism in the report on the Department of Justice and Equality, the HSE or any Department. It relates to a total lack of management in the structures of our public service. Locally, a good superintendent in charge means that people notice a significant improvement in the quality of Garda operations. I am sure other Members notice the same. The common denominator in all successful companies is good management. Those who follow sport know that successful teams have good management. Unfortunately, we do not have any emphasis on it in the public service.

One of the major criticisms of the current Administration is the failure to use the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity during the economic crisis over the past six years to get things right in the public service. Most people are followers and there is a dearth of leadership worldwide. Where there are good leaders, they get the best out of the people following. We do not have an emphasis on that or a system to try to encourage it within the public service. Consequently, much of the criticism politicians come in for and the debacles we have seen are not the creatures of the politicians but are due to the failure of anonymous administrators. Unions protecting people who are not performing must also be tackled. That is not good enough when taxpayers, as Senator Diarmuid Wilson pointed out, are struggling to pay their mortgages, working hard to rear their families and paying high taxes, particularly the universal social charge. To the shame of the Government, it failed to address the USC and has increased it. Hard-earned money should be put to good use and any waste should be penalised by the structures in the system and the political structures in these Houses. The Committee of Public Accounts does a good job, but we need something stronger to root out waste across the public service, which is endemic.