Public sector reform - actually going to happen or another Government smokescreen

gandalf

Well looks like the penny might be dropping according to reports in today's media.

Public sector reform to pave way for large-scale job losses

MARK HENNESSY, Political Correspondent

MAJOR PUBLIC sector reforms, including significant redundancies and the abolition of decades-old restrictions, are to be announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan tomorrow.

Under the plan, a four-strong expert committee is to be ordered "to secure reductions in spending and numbers across the public service" and "to see if more agencies can be rationalised to give better value for money".

The Irish Times understands that the decades-old distinction between the Civil Service and other State agencies is to be abolished.

The distinction made it impossible up to now for workers in agencies such as Fás and others to transfer to jobs in Government departments, for instance.

Such demarcations helped to contribute to the Government's decentralisation difficulties, when vacancies in some organisations could not be filled.

.......full article here

Now the major question is will this be a whitewash with nothing done or are they actually going to get to grips with the public sector and bring in conditions that are on par with the rest of the working populace in this country.

If they succeed then I would contemplate something that I would never have even considered in the past, voting for FF. For the long term prospects of this country the waste and inefficiency in the public sector has to be addressed and I really hope that this initiative goes a long way towards achieving this.

mikemac

A "unified" public service will allow "staff to move between agencies and departments",

That sounds like something staff might welcome.

I think this will start with great intentions.
In 6 months we'll have a report and then another every few months. Every single vested interest will fight their corner and nothing will be agreed and the committee will get disillusioned and resign and it'll all be forgotton about.......

gandalf

micmclo wrote: »

I think this will start with great intentions.
In 6 months we'll have a report and then another every few months. Every single vested interest will fight their corner and nothing will be agreed and the committee will get disillusioned and resign and it'll all be forgotton about.......

Unfortunately unless there is some tough and positive action from the government this is exactly how this will pan out and given the pedigree of the current bunch I fear that they will wilt under the pressure from the public sector unions.

mike65

micmclo has hit the nail on the head.

All show, no go.

Mike

Fratton Fred

It's not the normal people where the savings can be made though. This is in todays indo http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/fas-chiefs-enjoy-a-good-life-1550136.html

FAS chiefs enjoy a good life
Luxury business-class flights for boss Rody Molloy and his wife, a €7,000 night out in a private dining room at the five-star Merrion Hotel, golfing at exclusive clubs, beauty salons and pay-per-view hotel movies are among the more extravagant costs incurred by top brass at beleaguered state job-creation outfit FAS. After a three-month investigation, Shane Ross and Nick Webb blow the lid off the rampant spending excesses of the key officials at the crisis ridden semi-state body

mike65

I've been listening to the fall out on radio since he gave a "let them eat cake" interview with Pat Kenny
yesterday. The guy is the notion of a snout in the public trough personified.

Mike

gandalf

Fratton Fred wrote: »

It's not the normal people where the savings can be made though. This is in todays indo http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/fas-chiefs-enjoy-a-good-life-1550136.html

Well if the expenses aren't for business purposes they should refund the money or be removed.

If too many normal people are employed for the work then they should also be trimmed.

Fratton Fred

gandalf wrote: »

Well if the expenses aren't for business purposes they should refund the money or be removed.

If too many normal people are employed for the work then they should also be trimmed.

yes they should, but in many organisations, such as Fas, there appears to be a large number of people at the top spending a lot of money.

efficiencies don't just mean cutting back on staff.

corkfella

it does not say a lot for cowen's intelligence to come out publicly and back the fas boss when the whole country is baying for his blood, but then again he's a fella biffo. this goverenment is getting more directionless and incompetent by the day, I just find it staggering at times....

mike65

We need a new Scrap Saturday/Halls Pictorial Weekly, a way to let off steam.

Mike

nhughes100

Fratton Fred wrote: »

yes they should, but in many organisations, such as Fas, there appears to be a large number of people at the top spending a lot of money.

efficiencies don't just mean cutting back on staff.

Agreed, cutting staff numbers is a blunt instrument, I'm not saying that the public sector couldn't do with losing some fat but to say something like 10% of all public sector workers should be made redundant would be fairly foolish. I don't think there's room for the government to hide on this one, it needs serious reform.

I agree with FG that the pay deal should be postponed indefinitely. It doesn't make any sense to give a 6% rise with one hand yet expect 3% minimum payroll savings on the other.

I'd stop all increments and only Tenders in the NDP or Transport 21 should be continued with. Anything else to be cleared by the relevent minister and the public accounts committee. The amount of admin staff and middle management needs to be seriously reviewed. Also the notion of permenent and pensionable needs to be stopped. The whole point of P+P was to compensate for the lower wage scale that was typical of public service in the bad old days, that is now gone.

Also the whole way the public sector allocates money has to be reviewed - having to spend money by the end of the year or a certain date, if you make any money this year it's taken out of your budget for next year, waiting for half the year to be allocated a budget in the first place.

spadder

corkfella wrote: »

it does not say a lot for cowen's intelligence to come out publicly and back the fas boss when the whole country is baying for his blood, but then again he's a fella biffo. this goverenment is getting more directionless and incompetent by the day, I just find it staggering at times....

+1. what was Cowen thinking? this guy got slated by listeners to the pat kenny show. This proves Cowen is completely out of touch. Keep diggin Cowen.

themadchef

spadder wrote: »

what was Cowen thinking?

Honestly, i think they want out of government.

They don't want to be in there for the hard times. Let some other poor fools do all the hard work, make all the tough decisions..... and then get back into government when things inevitably improve.

ednwireland

complete whitewash, the people who decide who goes will only lay off aq few front-line staff and increase the administration (cos someone has to work out how to do it ) so we will end up with an even more bloated civil service with even less efficiency)
i remeber when I worked for rolls royce in the 90's and they had a reorganistation its middle and senior management quaking in their boots because you could lay half of them off and the work still gets done.

The_Minister

I think that Fas will be where the main cuts will fall (on Q&A last night, even the trade unionists were not defending them). They will use Fas as an example, ad use the outrage from that to justify cuts in the public service as a whole.

MisterAnarchy

Bit late to be making these changes.
The horse has well and truly bolted.
The time to make these changes was 4-5 years ago when things got completely out of hand with benchmarking and before the unions became so powerful.
The rot has set in now and as we have seen in the health service the rot is too deep.

meglome

About a year ago I was visiting a friend, when I arrived there was another friends of hers there. Within five minutes I could tell this guy was as opinionated as feck but I let it slide and as I didn't want to get into the politics conservation he clearly wanted. Anyway roll on an hour of his going on and eventually I've had enough, at this point he's telling me how great Bertie is. So I told him that if the man at the top has money which it appears he received by dodgy means then it's okay for everyone to do it which is a bad thing for the country. I then went on to explain to him about how much money the government had wasted, money which good chunks of were tax receipts from property which couldn't be expected to continue forever. I told him the government had a history of not being able to make difficult decisions and on the whole it took them several years to do anything except in a half arsed fashion and even then. Basically I said that there would likely be a day coming when we'd regret electing that same government and we'd realise the economy wasn't in the safe hands we were told it was. It's funny I-told-you-so's usually feel better that this. :mad:

I'm not party political at all but currently I wouldn't trust this government to organise a piss-up in a brewery. I just really hope they can get their **** together.

eigrod

meglome wrote: »

About a year ago I was visiting a friend, when I arrived there was another friends of hers there. Within five minutes I could tell this guy was as opinionated as feck but I let it slide and as I didn't want to get into the politics conservation he clearly wanted. Anyway roll on an hour of his going on and eventually I've had enough, at this point he's telling me how great Bertie is. So I told him that if the man at the top has money which it appears he received by dodgy means then it's okay for everyone to do it which is a bad thing for the country. I then went on to explain to him about how much money the government had wasted, money which good chunks of were tax receipts from property which couldn't be expected to continue forever. I told him the government had a history of not being able to make difficult decisions and on the whole it took them several years to do anything except in a half arsed fashion and even then. Basically I said that there would likely be a day coming when we'd regret electing that same government and we'd realise the economy wasn't in the safe hands we were told it was. It's funny I-told-you-so's usually feel better that this. :mad:

I'm not party political at all but currently I wouldn't trust this government to organise a piss-up in a brewery. I just really hope they can get their **** together.

Well said.

Anyone hear John Drennan this evening on Today FM point out a common denominator between two of the most profligate state bodies, ie FAS & the HSE ? Answer : Mary Harney. Thought it was quite funny really the way John Drennan pointed it out in his own inimitable way.

cyclopath2001

Public sector reform to pave way for large-scale job losses

In Dublin or in the 'decentralisation' towns?