A root-and-branch review of the internal organisation of the Department of Foreign Affairs has just been completed and was discussed on Wednesday by the all powerful MAC (Management Advisory Committee), the body which oversees all Iveagh House appointments. The paper has been compiled by the assistant secretary in the inspection unit, Marie Cross, and will now go to the Minister, Brian Cowen, for consideration.
The examination is the first internal audit to be undertaken section by section in DFA and all employees were interviewed. As well as efficiency and cost, its purpo se was to assess and cope with the challenges ahead for DFA which include EU enlargement, the changing face of diplomacy as it becomes more hard-nosed and encompasses Ireland's business interests, the implications of the worldwide success of the Celtic Tiger and our transition from being a net beneficiary to a net contributor to the EU budget. Cross began her task nearly two years ago and, at the least, amalgamations and re-organisations of sections, in a department which has a budget this year of £84.5 million, are expected.
What conclusions the report reaches - and it is stressed that the Cross paper is only a first draft - are, to date, a strictly guarded secret. Omerta is the word but then any movement, however minor, at the so-called "Court of the Borgias" sends the mandarins into a frenzy of speculation.