Public Sector Staff Recruitment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 June 2014

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Questions (3)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

3. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will lift the public sector recruitment embargo; his views on whether staff shortages in areas such as the health service, local government and associated services are now resulting in the unacceptable decline in the quality of those services; if he has carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the cost and efficiency of outsourcing across all Government Departments and State bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23815/14]

Oral answers (12 contributions)

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

The public sector recruitment embargo started by the last Government and continued by the Minister's has led to an enormous reduction in staff numbers in key areas of public service, in particular in the health service and in local authorities. The Minister's slogan originally was, "We'll get more for less". I put it to him that when one looks at the chronic staff shortages in the health service, leading to serious risks to patient safety in our hospitals and to tens of thousands of children on waiting lists for speech and language assessments, and when one looks at the disastrous housing crisis with which local authorities are unable to deal, we have to now consider lifting the public sector recruitment embargo and getting staff into key areas like housing departments, housing maintenance sections and hospitals.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

As I have previously stated, there is no embargo on recruitment to the public service.  To safeguard front line and priority services, the Government has allowed for critical posts to be filled throughout the period of consolidation of our public finances, as the Deputy well knows. In addition to this ongoing recruitment, special provision was made in last October's budget for the recruitment of, for example, more than 900 extra resource teachers for the school system and 150 new social care workers for Tusla, the new Child and Family Agency.  The Government recognises areas of most need and it is responding to them where it can.     

There are restrictions and limits on recruitment and promotion in the public service and these need to be understood on two fronts. First, the Government has a responsibility to control the cost of public services, given the incredibly difficult fiscal targets under which it is labouring. Second, the Government is committed to public service reform and is focused on driving efficiency and improving how public services are delivered.

Ongoing and meaningful reform is critical. Together with the Haddington Road agreement, the second public service reform plan which I launched in January provides the template for a better platform for public service delivery. The Government blueprint for reform demands that public service managers critically examine current business practices and processes with the goal of improving services and the service experience for citizens and get better value for taxpayers. Shared services, external service delivery, better use of technology and procurement reform are the building blocks that form part of every administration across the world for better, citizen-focused services.

In looking at these options, public service managers are required to engage with and consult employees and their representatives. Where public service bodies are considering external service delivery, for example, they must evaluate each function under consideration on a case-by-case basis. If a business case has not been made and there are not clear and compelling reasons for external service delivery, then it will not happen. The Deputy is fully aware that we need to reduce the cost of public service delivery but maintain as best we can an efficient, appropriate service for the 21st century.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

That is the cruel, cold logic of cutbacks but the reality is that in December of last year 32,000 children were waiting for speech and language assessments, many of them for more than a year, and 16,000 children were waiting for therapy. The INMO says that in hospitals we need one staff member for four patients, whereas currently we have one per eight during the day and one per 12 during the night. We have three times less staff than we need to keep patients safe.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Could the Deputy ask a question, please?

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

In local authorities, people with chronic disabilities, heart conditions and other vulnerable people are being told they have to wait a year or two to get a grab rail in order that they can get up the stairs to have a bath. That is absolutely unacceptable, yet the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanctioned three new spin doctors at the beginning of this year. It was considered vital to have PR advisers but-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Could the Deputy ask a question, please?

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

-----the nurses and local authority staff needed to help vulnerable people and children cannot be employed.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

We have 287,000 public servants and it is a bit disingenuous to mention three in the scale of what we need to do. As the Deputy is aware - I accept it is not politically acceptable to him - the whole focus of what we have to do is balance our budget in order that we can afford to maintain public services into the future. The Deputy is against a reduction in numbers in any sector, even in the case of rebalancing, where we are putting people on the front line and taking away back office and support staff through the use of shared services, better procurement, the reduction of quangos and all the other measures we are taking. Deputy Boyd Barrett is against a reduction in numbers or a reduction in pay but he wants us to spend more. However, he is against all charges and taxes as well. It is a wonderful fairyland he lives in.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I am fully in favour of cutting the pay of people at the top of the public service and politicians, and reducing the number of bureaucrats at the top of the system, but I am absolutely against having levels of staff shortages among nurses that endanger patient safety, that we do not have enough people to carry out assessments on vulnerable children with special needs or that we do not have maintenance people in local authorities who can put in grab rails or carry out renovations on houses of elderly, sick and vulnerable people. That is not acceptable. Cutting the numbers to the level that has taken place means public services are grinding to a halt and vulnerable people depending on those services are being made suffer cruelly.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy should ask a question, please.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

What is the Minister going to do about that?

Deputy Brendan Howlin

It is not only ridiculous but wrong to say public services have ground to a halt. A total of 287,000 public servants are working very hard to provide a very fine public service to people. Of course there are pressures, because we are in a situation where we have downsized and where we have to reduce expenditure as we do not have the capacity to spend. We cannot spend money we do not have. The whole focus of the reform agenda is to reprioritise to the front line, to the very services Deputy Boyd Barrett talked about, by making the rational decisions about shared services, reducing administration, doing things much more efficiently and providing for front-line services such as the additional social care workers and resource teachers to which I referred. The aim is to put those into the front line of delivery in order that people can have a good experience.

The Deputy's view is that in an ideal world the answer to everything is to provide whatever is demanded by anybody and to be popular. In the real world, where there are finite resources, we are making rational decisions to ensure we optimise the value for the money we have in terms of the quality of the services we deliver for the people who depend upon them.