A new International Civil Service Effectiveness Index, launched today (see link here), has highlighted several deficiencies in the Irish Civil Service. Comparing the Civil Service of 31 countries, Ireland comes in 6th last.

Ireland scored high in Human Resource Management and Tax Administration but low in terms of regulation, risk management, social security administration and openness.

Róisín Shortall of the Social Democrats said, “the report should be a wake-up call for the Civil Service and the Government. While it does well in certain categories, it should be a matter of deep concern that we continue to fall behind other countries in terms of regulation. If we have learned anything from the economic crash, it should be about the importance of robust regulation.

We also score poorly in the whole area of openness. We need to bring much greater transparency to the operation of government and the public service. It’s time to open up the whole of Government. This should include

  • repealing the Official Secrets Act,
  • repealing the Ministers and Secretaries Act to make Ministers and senior civil servants responsible for their actions, and
  • making publicly held data much more freely available to the public – including consultant waiting times, land records, company registrations, and consolidated legislation.
While the report notes an improvement in external recruitment into the Civil Service, we should be making open recruitment the norm right across the public service.

For further information please contact:
Anne-Marie McNally
01-618 3591 / 086-3754315
annemarie.mcnally@socialdemocrats.ie
@amomcnally

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