Sir, - Reform of the public service is the most urgent task facing the Irish State. Not even a resolution of the Northern Ireland conflict approaches it in importance. The Strategic Management Initiative is therefore potentially the most significant development in the history of the State. The separation of, policy and executive functions is the crucial element of the proposed reforms - without this there is no reform. Such a separation would replace the "pass the buck" culture with the concept of direct personal responsibility and would strike a blow against clientelism. The principal reason why the Irish public service is such an ineffective and costly mess is that under the Ministers and Secretaries Act avoidance of responsibility has become an accepted public service ethic. The Act is also a licence for political patronage and corruption. Anyone doubting these assertions should remember the history of the Irish telephone service before and after 1984. The service had collapsed under the Ministers and Secretaries system and had to be entrusted, under pressure of international ridicule, to a professional publicly accountable body.
It therefore sends a shiver down the spine to hear that the Association of Higher Civil Servants is opposed to the SMI and particularly to the separation of functions. Those who remember the false dawns of the Devlin (1969) and Boland (1985) initiatives will hope sincerely that integrity and courage will now prevail and that vested interests will not again sabotage reform.
The passing of the 1924 Ministers and Secretaries Act was the most damaging deed committed against the Irish people in the 20th century. It institutionalised a 19th century British colonial system of administration with "the Minister" as the memsahib and the Department of Finance as the colonial inspectorate ensuring that the natives were never allowed to show any initiative. While the Act retains its present - remit Ireland will remain a "Little Britain". Anyone who cares about the advancement of the Irish people must therefore pray that the AHCS and others in the public service will grasp the nettle of responsibility and see that their own true interests and those of their fellow citizens demand radical reform. - Yours, etc.,
"Cill Uird",
Baranny,
Annaghdown,
Galway.