A summary of the OECD's view on other areas of the public service.
STATE AGENCIES
THE REPORT says that since the 1990s the number of State agencies has more than doubled.
However, it expresses concern that "their benefit may be outweighed by a decrease in accountability and a fragmentation of purpose and scale of public sector activity".
It says the current governance system for agencies is not transparent for the public service, let alone for citizens and private companies.
The report also says that there is no widely accepted idea of what constitutes an agency in Ireland and that no figures are available for the numbers of staff in agencies or about how their budgets are spent.
It says agencies have not been given the kind of autonomy needed to be performance oriented, nor have they sufficient governance mechanisms to ensure that they stay connected to the overarching strategic policy objectives of their parent departments.
EDUCATION
THE CURRENT system of administering the school planning and building programme was put in place at a time of overall decline in school enrolment and tight fiscal control on departmental administrative budgets, the report notes.
"However, the current environment is much different from that of the 1990s. The population has increased significantly, resulting in new communities, in new locations, and increased cultural diversity," it states.
The involvement of local government authorities across the State when it comes to identifying and planning new school accommodation varies widely, it finds.
Similarly, at both primary and secondary level, the basic structure of individual school patrons responsible for the identification and oversight of school accommodation issues remains "basically unchanged".
"Their capacity to effectively manage the new challenges has been limited by the declining role of the religious orders," it states.
"A new patronage model is required . . . local governments need to be actively involved in the planning and identification of new and expanded school facilities."
The Department of Education and Science also needs to be more proactive in longer-term planning. Its proposed "developing areas unit" should be applied to all areas in the State to help meet changing demographic needs, it says.
PUBLIC SERVICE NUMBERS
THE NUMBER of public service employees increased by 30 per cent between 1995 and last year, but was coming from a low base compared to other OECD countries, the report states.
Similarly, a policy since the mid-1990s which limited non frontline service employment, has meant that public sector spending and employment growth have not kept up with population and GDP growth here.
"Government policy therefore has actually decreased the total number of public sector employees as a percentage of the labour force and decreased the overall public sector wage bill as a percentage of GDP," the report states.
General Government employment in Ireland represented about 14.6 per cent of the total labour force in 2005, which is also relatively low among OECD countries, the report notes.
But while public expenditure in Ireland experienced real increases of 5 per cent annually from 1995 to 2005 - second only to Korea in the OECD - much of these increases reflected a need to play "catch up from historically low levels".
E-GOVERNMENT
THE GOVERNMENT'S 2002 action plan on the information society identified 70 flagship services for online delivery, the review notes. However, three years later, only 30 had been completed on time and as intended. Others have yet to be delivered. "From a wider perspective, there is a concern that Ireland is falling behind in international benchmarks of online service provision," it states.
But the report also highlights revenue's online service as an example of good practice, and notes the Economist Intelligence Unit placed Ireland 21st of 69 in their "e-readiness" rankings last year.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Central government should use the current review of regulations in the waste management sector to focus on eliminating market distorting elements "so that a level playing field is created", the report states. Meanwhile, local authorities should in the short term review how they could make better use of their licensing authority. It may be wise to transfer the licensing authority to regional or national levels in the longer-term.
"Combined regional waste strategies do not necessarily achieve the national waste policy targets," the report adds.
"Attempts to move from waste disposal via landfill to thermal treatment have not been realised, (partly) due to excess landfill capacity . . . improved co-ordination is needed to take better account of waste infrastructure needs at the national level," it states. Similarly, a landfill tax should be considered to make desired investment in non landfill solutions more "economically viable".
DECENTRALISATION
The plans to move over 10,000 civil and public service jobs out of Dublin is changing the public service landscape and, if not properly implemented, may further contribute to fragmentation, according to the report.
The implementation of decentralisation also creates an opportunity to think about the public service in new ways and to introduce changes which would provide increased mobility across sectors and allow staff to broaden career and development opportunities. It would also allow for greater sharing of resources and services at regional level.
But in the absence of longer term plans on how this restructuring will affect performance or meet the needs of the wider public, the policy poses significant challenges to modernisation and the ability to achieve an integrated, cohesive public service.
"Staff will be dispersed widely and many will be new to departments: during interviews with the OECD, indications were that in some areas, turnover of staff who were opting not to relocate with their departments or offices could be as high as 90 per cent," the report states.
The report also notes that a number of the locations for administrative relocations are oversubscribed, while others are experiencing difficulties in attracting suitably qualified candidates.