Time for Cowen to put his words into action
INCOMING Taoiseach Brian Cowen needs to take a baker's dozen of steps to bring about necessary reform in the public service:
- A universal acceptance that public services are there to serve the public.
- Structural and organisational changes.
- Redesign of rules on accountability and of incentives for performance.
- Training and skill development.
- Open recruitment for an increasing number of posts and other initiatives to facilitate interchange between public and private sectors;
- No tolerance for inappropriate vested interest actions which impact on the public;
- More evidence based analysis and increased adaptation of what has worked internationally;
- Dilution of boundaries between departments, agencies and local authorities;
- Private sector provision in certain areas where this is more cost effective.
- Review of regulatory agencies and what activity is regulated and the specific approaches used.
- Focus on solutions rather than blame.
- Significant cultural and value changes.
- Enhanced performance measurement.
This doesn't actually come from some self-help book for aspirant taoisigh.
Nor does it emerge from an international think-tank commissioned to conduct a report.
And, no, it doesn't come either from an off-the-top-of -head critique by a member of the media.
Actually this list of 13 changes required to be made to the public service came from no less than the Tanaiste, Minister for Finance, Fianna Fail leader-elect and Taoiseach-designate Brian Cowen.
He made the wish-list public in his keynote address to the Indecon Policy Lecture at the Royal Irish Academy in November last year. If there are frequent references to this seminal speech, it's because it read like a blueprint for an impatient Taoiseach-in-waiting, as he set out his vision for the future development of the economy.
On that occasion, Cowen said the OECD Review of Public Services would represent the first step in the next phase of the development of Irish public services.
He also said it was clear that, to accelerate economy-wide productivity, ensure value for money in the public service and improve quality and access, then major on-going public service reform is needed.
"In my view this will require a long-term and radical plan," he said.
Not surprisingly, Cowen was again using the phrase "long-term and radical plan" yesterday following the publication of the aforementioned report.
The OECD report provided plenty of food for thought on the public sector. Generally speaking it was a positive appraisal -- arguably a tad too positive.
If the public service is performing as well as the OECD says, then why are there so many shortcomings in the delivery of frontline services to the public?
Why are there such problems in the health and education sectors, which swallows up vast quantities of the public sector bill?
In typical civil servant speak, the language used in the recommendations was so vague it left it open to interpretation. The Government can pick and choose the aspects of the report it wants to adopt and drop the rest.
The report though doesn't go far enough at all to address all of the baker's dozen of reforms Cowen wants to see implemented.
It can only be regarded as a starting point for the wider programme of reform the incoming Taoiseach pledges to implement over the coming years.
The changed economic climate, resulting in lower levels of revenue growth, means public sector reform is no longer an option -- it's an imperative.
The days of throwing money at a problem -- whether it yielded the desired results or not - are gone.
In a humourous, yet prescient, aside yesterday, Cowen adapted one of the recommendations to reflect the present reality.
"In a potentially tighter fiscal environment -- leave out the word potentially -- there is a need for prioritising spending within budget frameworks," he said.
Too often the public who are supposed to be served by the public sector are an afterthought.
The Tanaiste is correct when he says the public need to be put at the heart of the public services.
"Citizens engaging with the public service are not concerned about inter-organisational issues.
"It is up to us to make sure that the various pieces fit together.
"What the public wants to see is proper delivery of services," he said.
OECD deputy secretary general Art de Geus said Ireland was on track in terms of its reforms but the hardest part is still to come.
The hard decisions need to be taken by the Government and leadership must be shown by Cowen.
Consultation with the management of the public service and the representatives of the rank and file workers, as well as the rest of the social partners, is important.But it cannot be allowed to hinder the process. If Cowen's action is as serious as his intent, the results will follow.
Outgoing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's classic washing of his hands over the setting up of too many quangos yesterday demonstrates exactly why the problems in our public service were allowed to develop in the first place.Somebody else was always to blame under Ahern.
Now Cowen has to take responsibility.
- Fionnan Sheahan
