Ireland’s senior civil servants and public service managers need to be
targeted to suck the fat out of the public sector despite the buoyant growth of
the Irish economy, according to a former senior Guinness (now Diageo)
executive.
Speaking at the Irish Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD
Ireland) annual conference, organisational restructuring adviser, Eddie Molloy,
said there should be no hiding places for under-performing professional and
managerial staff working in the Civil Service, local authorities and health
boards.
He told the conference that there were still virtually no consequences
relating to poor performance across the whole public sector domain.
"Accountability in semi-state companies, state bodies and the Civil
Service is currently weak," he said.
He warned top public sector managers and professionals – such as medical
consultants, engineers, architects and accountants – that they would come under
increasing pressure to justify their positions.
Molloy said the forthcoming Mullarkey Report on accountability would focus
on measuring the real effectiveness and output of senior public servants who
have avoided facing change.
Participants at the conference in Galway were told US manufacturing and
technology firms in Ireland, and later in service companies such as the main
banking groups, had introduced dramatic changes. Transformations had also taken
place in some state-owned organisations which had to face competition, such as
Bord na M¢na (a peat extraction company), Irish Life Assurance, and Aer Lingus.
"University dons, hospital consultants and others – especially
protected private sector or public sector professionals – are only beginning to
even consider the application of management disciplines to their work," he
said. "The big fat is higher up in an organisation."
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By Gerald Flynn in Ireland
