CIVIL Service changes, which include giving Department secretaries the power to sack subordinates, are proposed in a wide ranging report launched by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, yesterday.
The 83 page document entitled "Delivering Better Government A Programme of Change for the Irish Civil Service was prepared by a group of leading civil servants chaired by Mr Paddy Teahon, secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach.
Mr Bruton said the programme, as a central part of the Government's Strategic Management Initiative, set out the direction of the Civil Service in the medium and long term.
The aim was to enable Departments to manage resources more effectively, in order to achieve their stated goals and objectives. The public service had performed very well since the State's foundation but it faced a rapidly changing environment. The core of the programme was quality of service, Mr Bruton said.
Key points in the document include
. Fostering "a customer orientation and a focus on results" in the Civil Service
. Greater co-operation between Departments focusing on "key priority areas of government activity", e.g. poverty, crime, long term unemployment
. Improved communications with the public, greater responsiveness to its needs and simplified procedures for registering complaints
. Assigning the power of dismissal to secretaries of Departments, subject to appropriate safeguards. This power is vested in the Government at present
. Probationary contracts of one year for newly appointed civil servants
Allocation of additional resources to staff training and development "until it reaches at least 3 per cent of payroll"
. Preparation by each Department of an action plan "with particular reference to the gender balance of the grades employed in that department"
. Financial planning by Departments on a three year basis instead of from year to year as at present
. Discussion of a "more suitable contract of employment" for special advisers and programme managers recognising their "unique position" outside the normal Civil Service structure
. Greater internal consultation and devolution of decision making for civil servants along with accountability for the results of their decisions.
Senator John Dardis, of the Progressive Democrats, said the report was "long on aspirations, but short on specifics" and displayed a lack of radical thinking.
Ms Carmel Foley, of the Employment Equality Agency, welcomed the commitment that the Civil Service must prove itself a model employer in respect of equality.
Among those attending the launch were the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, and the Minister of State with responsibility for public service reform, Ms Avril Doyle.