FG outlines plans for major public sector reform

[smitchy2]

The arrangements I'm talking about are the existing subvention requirements already in place for the Commercial and non-commercial semi states etc etc (they where set up to enable them to behave precisely as Bruton has described they should be behaving), or is he confining his reform to the Civil Service and the interdepartmental relationships currently in place. (A very welcome initiative by the way)
As it stands, and according to Bruton the likes of the ESB, for example, are model companies.

On the point of specifics he’s somewhat wishy washy and has he really said anything that hasn't been aspired to before. Talk of value for money has littered the political discourse for the past 20 odd years. I want to see specifically what Bruton has in mind that represents a significant departure from FF/PD rhetoric.

It is the concept of zero based budgeting which is key.
It really puts the pressure of senior managers to actually manage and prove that every cent that goes into their department “each year” is worthwhile.

It would likely result in the disbandment of many state agencies, a reduction in numbers in local authorities. At least he does not shirk on this.

It is still high level stuff without complete detail but once again FG are coming up with real policy reform where Labour continue the rhetoric of fairness without really stating anything.

The PS voter is floating between FF and Labour at the moment and I definitely think these 2 parties are more aligned to each other than some of the current FG policies.

[politicaldonations]

As self satisfied posts go that ones priceless.

Did FG contact you with any offers to held them steer policy?

Still on here 24/7 fighting the good fight kevin doyle? Good to see you are working hard for the bumper public sector compensation package you have .

[bormotello]

As self satisfied posts go that ones priceless.

Did FG contact you with any offers to held them steer policy?

Why they should worry about me and me about them?
Job of politicians is to listen what public says, take best ideas and present as their own. Politicians are not genius here. Majority of them can only give false promises and nothing else. The best description for majority of them is “idiots”.
They need somebody who will give them ideas.
Route 1 – hire highly paid consultants and listen to them, as Mary Harney did.
Route 2 – listen what public says, separate gold from sand and everybody will think that they are smart

FG did everything right.
Nobody will protect PS managers now.
Unions need somebody to move public anger for poor performance of public services.
Politicians need somebody to show that they are care about public finances.
PS managers is perfect target. They will be blamed in everything, from long waiting lists in hospitals to high prices in shops. If FG will do it properly – they have high chance to succeed.

[drbob1972]

The PS voter is floating between FF and Labour at the moment and I definitely think these 2 parties are more aligned to each other than some of the current FG policies.

which would imply that large sway's of the PS are deep in denial and willing to follow which ever party tells them the lies they want to hear......

PS reform is desperately needed, PS workers should be on the same T's & C's, benefits and risks of private sector workers

[adrem]

A suggested move to zero based budgeting has been mooted before but never got anywhere - they aren't universally acclaimed btw. The better model is a form of staggered term budget - basically a zero based 5 year budget with specific milestones set within that term.

FG are great at looking for reform and demanding accountability but it's bull if the unions are going to go on strike as soon as you try to implement it and if areas like performance related pay and dismissal of managers for consistent underperformance are simply impossible to achieve in the PS in less than 10 years.

Lets get back to basics here - we are spending nearly twice as much as we are taking in - we need to immediately reduce spending/increase taxation to bridge that gap. Borrowing is fine short term but only if we are putting in place reduced spending/increased tax take in the future to bridge the gap because like it or not we cannot increase borrowing by 10bn every year.

Aspirational long term reform projects are needed but the priority is real tangible short and immediate term projects

[Thac0man]

FG did everything right.
Nobody will protect PS managers now.
Unions need somebody to move public anger for poor performance of public services.
Politicians need somebody to show that they are care about public finances.
PS managers is perfect target. They will be blamed in everything, from long waiting lists in hospitals to high prices in shops. If FG will do it properly – they have high chance to succeed.

Good reading of the situation. I think you could add in that blaming public sector managers also could have an affect on the PS levy. If it gets upped for the higher grades, no one would grumble and the PS unions would have their fairer levy. Apparently fairer distribution is the only grumble they have. In the current econimic climate I can't see the base contribution being lessened.

[adamirer]

The goal is set multi annual budgets, where a section knows what the spend will be for 3-5 year periods. It's VERY sparingly done in some capital budgets, but money needs to be ring fenced for 3-5 year periods in more areas, so we dont have the farce of the last 2 months of the yyear being all about spend, spend, spend for fear the budget would be cut the following year.

The ridiculousness of that policy is hard to explain, but the thrust of the thinking is that is section A has a budget of 40m and only spends 25m in 2009, that the budget in 2010 will be reduced to 30m, when the reality is the expenditure may have been stalled and be incurred the following year.

This short term thinking, enforced by dept of finance, kills the public service...

[juanpablo]

Have FG actually released a policy document for this proposal yet?

[bormotello]

FG are bastards
Now I have to protect their idea as my own
1) If quickly change a law, it will possible to fire at least 25% of PS managers after 6 months without any pension. Important thing is to open door for middle management to the top and for low level managers to the middle. Managers are knows a lot about mistakes made by their bosses. Lets open this valve.
2) Need to extend purge on consultants. If somebody is giving advice and his advice is not working (Mary Harney friends for example), state must finish contract with them and put them into black list, so they never will hired by tax-payers funded structures.
Somebody has to pay for all this mess.
Moving attention to PS managers will cost nothing, can improve a lot and it is doable.
Most important thing is to give them a warning and give them chance to leave service without any blame with small redundancy payment.
But anybody, who will decide to stay must get full responsibility.

[hiding behind a poster]

The Government needs to lead by example.Reform in the Dail first then the rest of the public sector.Eliminate the rake of junior ministers and the TD's ridiculous expenses.Scrap committess that dont produce results within 6 months of their creation.Cap ministers pay.And replace Kenny with Bruton.And prioritise the cancer vaccine for young girls ,16 million euro is a price worth paying!!

Then Fine Gael will get my vote.

With the exception of the rather bizarre "replace Kenny with Bruton", FG have proposed virtually everything in your post.