Minister turns up late to lecture on punctuality

IT was not a promising start for the junior minister responsible for making civil servants more civil and servant. Ms Avril Doyle was half an hour late yesterday in announcing the Government's "quality customer service programme".

Scheduled to start at 12.30 p.m., proceedings began shortly after 1 p.m. The Minister of State with responsibility for Customers of Public Services told the waiting civil servants about the importance of timeliness and courtesy.

A spokeswoman later explained that Ms Doyle was "at a photo call" elsewhere in Dublin Castle. She added: "We were due to have the photo opportunity at 12.30 and it took a little longer than expected".

Ms Doyle said it was important that public servants became more public relations conscious. "We should think about how we can sell to the public what we do. The longer I'm in the job the more I'm aware of the fact that there is a reluctance within the public service to actually blow your own coals." The public, she said, "don't realise the extent to which they are served."

Perhaps it was the very success of the public service which "bred cynicism and the cheap jibe all the time," she said. But the "customer" now wanted a more efficient and "more timely" service.

All 30,000 public servants should have received the leaflet published yesterday, she said. The Government was committed to a Customer Action Plan by November 1st which should be implemented in two years. Improvements should include a "polite answer to the phone" and, her personal dislike, no answerphones during office hours.

On Tuesday the Government approved low cost telephone access to all Government Departments and offices, Ms Doyle said. The Telecom Eireann Locall 1890 service means callers from anywhere in the State will be charged standard local rates.