asked the Minister for the Public Service if he will outline the new procedures for the appointment of senior civil servants; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Senior Civil Servant Appointments.
6.
The essential feature of the new procedures are as follows:
(a) All appointments to posts at the level of secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretary (including non-general service posts) will be made by the Government (in the case of secretaries), or by the appropriate Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for the Public Service (in the case of other grades), following consideration of a recommendation by an Appointments Committee made on the basis of the fitness of the person for the post.
(b) the Appointments Committee consists of the Secretary (for the time being) to the Government who acts as chairman. Mr. Dermot Nally is currently Secretary to the Government; the Secretary (for the time being) of the Department of the Public Service. Mr. Kevin Murphy, is currently Secretary of the Department of the Public Service; the Chairman (for the time being) of the Public Service Advisory Council. The current Chairman is Dr. Liam St. J. Devlin; two secretaries of Departments chosen by the Taoiseach, after consultation with the Minister for the Public Service, for such period as the Taoiseach may determine. (The two secretaries at present serving are the Secretary, Department of Agriculture — Mr. James O'Mahony — and the Secretary, Department of Energy — Mr. Joseph Holloway — and they will serve on the Committee for three years); and on an ad hoc basis, the outgoing secretary of a Department, for the appointment of his successor. The Department of the Public Service provides the secretariat to the Appointments Committee.
(c) The committee will review, on a regular basis, information on, and assessments of, staff at the appropriate levels in Departments generally and will, as vacancies occur, recommend, with the assistance of specialists, if it so requires, the manner in which they should be filled and the persons to be appointed.
The committee will, of course, be free to recommend that any particular posts be filled by open competition. Likewise the committee, in picking the best person for the post, will do so irrespective of Department, background or speciality, thereby bringing to an end the dual structure — a system under which professionals and non-professionals have their own career structures.
The Appointments Committee have a purely advisory role. The power of decision remains with the Government, or the Minister concerned, with the approval of the Minister for the Public Service, as appropriate.
(d) Secretaries appointed under the new system (including the Chairman of the Office of Public Works) will serve for a period of not more than seven years.
Secretaries of Departments appointed in future must retire from the Civil Service at the age of 60. However, officers aged 55 or over on the date the new scheme starts will continue to be eligible for appointment as Secretary but, if appointed, will have to retire after five years and, in any event, on reaching the age of 65.
The Government consider this new scheme to be of major importance in the commitment to public service reform. Likewise, the new scheme is a first step towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Civil Service in which senior management plays a key role.
I want to confine my questions to the major appointments of senior civil servants because the latter half of the Minister's reply related to promotional aspects, which I presume are matters to be negotiated by the trade unions. Do the Appointments Committee make recommendations to the Government or the Minister or do they submit a list from which the Government or the Minister may select somebody?
They make recommendations to the Government in regard to appointments.
I take it that the Government and the Minister may or may not accept these recommendations?
That is correct. The Government have the ultimate responsibility for the appointment in the case of secretaries and the Minister is directly involved in the case of the appointment of an assistant secretary.
Does the Minister agree that this area has nothing to do with the restructuring of the Civil Service upon which the Minister is engaged and which may or may not be a good thing? Does the Minister agree that this is a major change in the system that has been in operation since the foundation of the State of ensuring that senior civil servants are appointed on merit only and not by political pull?
This proposal now being implemented for senior appointments to anybody looking at it dispassionately must represent a major step forward in restructuring the Civil Service at that level. Its object is to terminate the dual structure which was there from the beginning in relation to professionals and non-professionals and to ensure that the most suitable candidate gets the job. For that reason the whole area has been opened up to allow people who up to now would not have been in the running for these senior posts to be considered. The logic of the argument is that at the end of the day the committee will be in a position to recommend to the Government the person most suited to fill a vacant post.
The Minister must agree that this method of appointment does not have anything whatever to do with opening it up to everyone. The Minister could open it up to everyone and have the appointments in the hands of the Civil Service Commission system or some other independent system. Surely the Minister cannot expect the House to believe that he, or the Government, will not be politically prejudiced in making appointments of senior civil servants? What will be the position of senior civil servants if a new Government take office? If another Government made that decision how would the Minister feel when he took office? Surely this changes the whole purpose of the Civil Service? Will the Minister agree that we should go back to the system of an independent commission to make senior appointments?
I suggest to the Deputy that Governments do not make changes for the sake of making changes. In making that statement I am speaking of successive Governments in respect of this issue. They endeavour to introduce schemes which will serve the public. In this case we are concerned about appointments at the highest level of the public service. Those people play a very important role in the life of our people. The system now in operation is for the time being reckoned to be the best system that can be introduced to ensure what the Government are setting out to do, to provide the best service possible in the public service.
How many such appointments were made by the Government? Are there any senior appointments due to be made under this system in the near future? Are there any proposals to extend this system down to lower grades in the near future?
There are no proposals at the moment to apply this to grades other than the grades for which the scheme now operates. In regard to appointments made under the new scheme, I should like to tell the Deputy that in 1984 the following appointments were made: assistant secretary at the Revenue Commissioners, secretary at the Department of Fisheries and Forestry, secretary at the Department of Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism, deputy secretary at the Department of Agriculture, assistant secretary at the Department of Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism and two assistant secretaries at the Department of Social Welfare. In addition five posts are in the process of being filled.
Were the people recommended for appointment subsequently appointed by the Government?
Governments always make the appointment. The recommendation comes from the committee.
In the cases mentioned did the Government appoint those who were recommended?
I do not think there is an obligation on me to tell the House what goes on in Government. History will show that.
That is a major statement from the Minister. I thought that was the job of Government.