Should civil servants defend bertie?

[essexboy]

Th watchword for every civil servant is "never embarass the Minister"

[geraghd]

As I understand it Civl Servants carry out government policy and can act only as representatives of the state. This is why spokespersons for the government cannot be a civil servant but a employee of the government information service who is appointed by the govt, and in this case the head is Eoin O Neachtain (?) with the deputy head being a Green appointee as they are partners in govt.

[Fourtysomething]

The Government and the Civil Service ar two entirely different bodies - there is a huge difference between a Government spokesman and a department spokesman (usually called the Public Relations Officer of the Department of whatever). The only public service area who doesn't seem to have one is the HSE, well "Public Service & HSE" is a bit of an oxymoron.

[smiffy]

The Government and the Civil Service ar two entirely different bodies - there is a huge difference between a Government spokesman and a department spokesman (usually called the Public Relations Officer of the Department of whatever).

That's not really true. The civil service is part of the Government, although the term 'Government' is also commonly used to refer just to the Cabinet.

Most Departments will have a Press Officer, who is a civil servant (I don't know of any which use the term 'Public Relations Officer') but plenty of Ministers will also have their own press adviser, who would be employed on a contract basis. The Government Press Office, which is based in the Department of the Taoiseach, employs both permanent civil servants and staff whose term will end when this Government finishes up.

[Fourtysomething]

The Government and the Civil Service ar two entirely different bodies - there is a huge difference between a Government spokesman and a department spokesman (usually called the Public Relations Officer of the Department of whatever).

That's not really true. The civil service is part of the Government, although the term 'Government' is also commonly used to refer just to the Cabinet.

Most Departments will have a Press Officer, who is a civil servant (I don't know of any which use the term 'Public Relations Officer') but plenty of Ministers will also have their own press adviser, who would be employed on a contract basis. The Government Press Office, which is based in the Department of the Taoiseach, employs both permanent civil servants and staff whose term will end when this Government finishes up.

Yeh, like I said - thanks for translating