A chara, - Garret Fitzgerald is right to have reservations (Opinion, February 7th) about the changes proposed to the traditional system of recruiting civil and public servants. I regret that the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Bill 2003, if enacted, will dissolve the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissions.
Those commissions have been effective. Open, competitive examinations provided reasonably fair access to civil service jobs for boys and girls from families who lacked political, business or social-class connections. The system provided career opportunities, independent of cliques and cronies.
Devolution of recruitment functions to local and departmental levels and to private agencies may encourage favouritism. The record of "jobs for the boys" in the patronage tradition of Irish party politics does not inspire confidence.
In answer to the above criticisms, it may be argued that the Bill includes general references to probity, merit, equity and fairness. Preparation of related codes of practice, however, will be delegated to a new Commission for Public Service Appointments. The term democratic deficit seems apt. - Is mise,
TONY QUINN, Dalkey, Co Dublin.