Allocation of jobs corrupt, says TD

Ireland is probably the most corrupt country in the world in the allocation of jobs, according to Fine Gael TD, Mr Michael Ring.

The Mayo deputy condemned "job fixing" in local authorities and health boards and claimed it was "jobs for the boys and girls" where "many sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of people in the public service get in, having been fixed up by their friends in the Civil Service".

Hitting out at retired county managers, assistant managers and county secretaries, he said they worked full-time travelling around the State to interview boards and claimed they were "job fixing" for their friends and relatives.

"County managers all over the country will ring each other and they are the Civil Service commission, appointing people to jobs," and nothing was being done about it. "This is probably the most corrupt country in the world when it comes to jobs. I stand over that statement," he said. "My blood boils when I see how people are given jobs.

"I would love to be able to put down a parliamentary question seeking the names of those on interview boards. You would see the same people every time, as it is a full-time job for them with full-time travel, but we are doing nothing about it."

The Fine Gael TD was speaking during a debate on legislation which will fundamentally change recruitment to the civil service. Mr Ring claimed the new Bill was for Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats "who can now bring their boys and girls in the back door".

Mr Tom Parlon, Minister of State for Finance, rejected any suggestion that the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Bill would allow for the appointment of Government advisors to permanent Civil Service jobs. The Bill was not taking any power to appoint its advisors to pensionable Civil Service jobs. However, it repeals other legislation which bans such appointments. He said that, "it is necessary to make new provisions to secure the continuing prohibition on the appointment of special advisors to permanent posts".

However, Labour's finance spokesman, Ms Joan Burton, said that special advisors "may be able to circumvent the rules on open, competitive recruitment to the public service" despite the Minister's claim. She said the Minister for Finance said the public interest would be protected by such appointments being governed by a code of practice, but "this is a feeble substitute for a legislative bar on such appointments".

Mr Parlon said the Bill would increase flexibility by allowing public sector bodies to recruit directly as well as through the Civil Service Commissioners and it will allow public bodies to use private recruitment agencies. He said the Bill would also support the decentralisation process, by allowing bodies and departments to "tailor recruitment to their own needs, a factor which will be particularly important during the decentralisation process itself".

Fine Gael's finance spokes- man, Mr Richard Bruton, questioned whether the Minister had carried out a risk assessment on using the new powers the Bill would provide for local recruitment, and whether public servants' views had been properly considered in the legislation and its impact on decentralisation.

Mr Bruton said the "public service is not a plaything of the Minister's of State's party, the Tánaiste, or the Government. It is an institution that has served us well. It is not to be used frivolously to serve the short-term political interests of any party." He predicted "chaos and vastly experienced teams being dismantled to try to reassemble them in new locations". He added that while the Bill dealt with recruitment and selection it was "ambivalent on promotion", which "is what makes an organisation dynamic and capable of delivering. We need open competition in that area, but the Bill is remarkably silent on this."