Reform of the health services can only be achieved if staff work longer hours, the Taoiseach said today.
Bertie Ahern told an Ibec Human Resources conference today that health sector employees only wanted to work six hours a day and take a half day on Friday.
He said: "The ultimate aim is to get quality services to the public and in doing that, we have to ensure we use the equipment, the money and the staffing to the most effect.
"That requires us changing fairly fundamentally from where we have been." Mr Ahern said he wanted a public service that is performance-driven, flexible, more open and accountable.
"Getting there will take time but we are making real progress," he added. The Government recently announced a review of performance indicators used to measure the effectiveness of value for money of public services.
A new leadership initiative for the public service was also unveiled.
An independent assessment will also be carried out on how the Irish public service compares with other countries that represent good practice in various different aspects of public administration and policy.
"I believe that these measures, combined with the ongoing work on change and modernisation, will equip our public institutions with the capacity needed to manage uncertainty in the period ahead - to properly assess risks, develop progressive policies, implement actions decisively and to deliver services equally to all of our citizens to the highest standards," Mr Ahern added.