Speaking during today’s Dail debate on the new Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointment) Bill 2003 Labour Party Spokesperson on Finance, Deputy Joan Burton, stated that the Labour Party had grave reservations about sections of the Bill, particularly those relating to the appointment of special advisers and canvassing in relation to public service appointments.
Deputy Burton commented, “The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 initiated by the Labour Party in the Rainbow Government forbade the appointment of these special advisers to permanent positions in the Civil Service. The new Bill proposes to repeal that section without any explanation from the Minister in the Explanatory Memorandum.
“The proposed Bill provides that the newly established Commission for Public Services Appointments may allow special advisers to be appointed to established positions. This means that special advisers may be able to circumvent the rules on open, competitive recruitment to the public service.
“The response by Minister McCreevy to the Labour Party’s criticism of the Bill, is to say that the public interest will be protected by such appointments being governed by a code of practice to be approved by the new Commissioners for Public Service Appointments. This is a feeble substitute for a legislative bar on such appointments, and the Labour Party will be submitting an amendment to have the bar on the appointment of advisers clearly set out in the new Bill.
“We are also seeking amendments to section 56c of the Bill which provides for a statutory ban on canvassing for appointments. But breach of the ban on canvassing gives rise to criminal liability on the part of canvasser only. In other words, a Minister who was canvassed and acted on foot of such a communication in order to secure an appointment is guilty of a criminal offence.
“In the discussions on decentralisation many government TDs commented on the number of communications they had received from civil servants anxious to relocate to their constituencies. Any use of influence by politicians in public service appointments and relocations should be statutorily barred.
“Further, the Government is now proposing to break up the centralised public service recruitment system, which has served this state well since its foundation. The Labour Party is anxious to support any changes that improve the delivery of public services, but there are many questions that need answers to justify so radical a change of policy. This is particularly true in the context of the Governments decision to decentralise 44 Government Departments and Agencies across the state”.
“The Bill proposes to dismantle the Civil Services Commission and the Local Appointment Commissioners and to replace them with the 2 new bodies – The Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) and the Public Appointments Service (PAS). It will allow Secretary-Generals of Government Departments to acquire recruitment licences to recruit staff directly themselves or to use private recruitment agencies who become licence holders under the new Bill.
“The origin of the Bill appears to have been negotiated as part of the Sustaining Progress National Agreement, but there has been no public debate otherwise on the merits or demerits of these radical changes in recruitment to the public service. While the existing public service recruitment procedure could be seen as slow, particularly at the height of the Celtic Tiger, public confidence in the integrity of the system was very high.
“With the localisation of recruitment provided for in the new Bill, together with the decentralisation of 44 departments and agencies across the State there is a real fear that there could be an excessive localisation of recruitment and the loss of a unified civil service career structure and appointment system
“By relocating departments and agencies around the country the question arises will a department or agency based in Kerry or Mayo, for example, end up excessively favouring local applicants for public service jobs?
“The Local Appointments Commission was introduced partly to cut out excessive canvassing by local politicians in favour of local candidates to Local Authorities. One recalls in the aftermath of the decentralisation announcement at Budget time the posters and leaflets by Minister of State Parlon welcoming civil servants to “Parlon Country.” I want an assurance that this Bill will not facilitate a culture of local favouritism in appointments to departments located outside Dublin.
“Value for money is obviously not an issue for the Minister in this Bill, or in the proposal to decentralise 100 staff of the Civil Service Commissioners to Youghal. In March 2002 the Taoiseach opened brand new purpose built office building for the Commission, at a cost of EU3 million and includes state of the art interview and video conferencing suites.
“The new structure also provides for an expansion of the new Civil Service Commissioners, the Commission for Public Services Appointments (CPSA), and the new Public Appointments Service (PAS) to have 9 member boards in each case as opposed to the current 3 member boards.
“In recent times the country has been traumatised by evidence of corruption through many tribunals of inquiry. Maintaining absolute public confidence in the integrity of the recruitment system must be a priority for all political parties. Unfortunately because of the lack of public debate and discussion surrounding the introduction of this Bill, the Minister must answer the questions raised by the Labour Party.”