Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
281. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans for reform to address the low levels of trust in Government as measured in a recent report (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18721/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Edelman Trust Barometer is an online survey, with the fieldwork for the 2020 survey having been conducted in October and November 2019. While the methodology used is not set out in detail in the report, it is apparent that the questions asked in the survey reflect the concerns of citizens and the challenges being faced globally in relation to the economy, inequality and technology.
In the survey for the 2019 Barometer, 38 per cent of Irish respondents said they trusted government "to do what is right". This increased to 41 per cent for the 2020 Barometer. Trust in Business and NGOs also increased, to 48 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.
It is essential that citizens have trust in Government. Trust in Government is also essential in underpinning the policies and legislation that are adopted by the State to meet the challenges faced by society as a whole.
In relation to reform and how it can support trust in government, initiatives have addressed areas such as the capacity of the civil service and the conduct of politics.
Capacity of the Civil Service
The challenge of maintaining trust in the Irish Civil Service was highlighted as a key challenge in the Civil Service Renewal Plan 2014. Since the publication of this plan various actions have been progressed aimed at building public trust:
- The development of a common Corporate Governance Standard for the Civil Service;
- Progression of Employee Engagement Surveys across the Civil Service;
- Organisation of 46 Open Policy Debates involving stakeholders across various policy areas;
- A system of Organisational Capability Reviews to assess and strengthen performance and capacity across Departments is being implemented;
- Improvements to how data is collected, managed and stored through the National Data Infrastructure project.
Digital transformation is also central to the reform of the Civil and Public Service, and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (which is a Division of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) is leading this agenda. While substantial progress has been made, especially over the last two to three years, further acceleration will be a primary focus.
Digital is also a key theme at international and EU level. Even before Covid-19, the OECD had noted that digitisation is changing the way people live, interact and work, which affects the relationship between governments and citizens and requires a transformation of how public services are designed and delivered. The dividends from meeting such expectations will include efficiency, transparency, trust, and inclusion
The next phase of Civil Service Renewal is currently in development and will contain further actions to empower the Civil Service to respond quickly to change whilst ensuring accountability and high performance. These actions will aim to build accountability, to develop trust and provide ambitious leadership to support openness.
Political Reform
A substantial body of legislation has been enacted by recent Governments in areas such as Protected Disclosures, Freedom of Information, Regulation of Lobbying and Oireachtas Inquiries in order to strengthen public confidence in our public administration and the structures of Government. Tasks currently being progressed include transposition into Irish law of the EU Whistleblowing Directive and implementation of the Data Sharing and Governance Act.
At present, the main legislation regulating the ethical conduct of public officials is The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, as amended by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. This legislation provides for the disclosure of registrable interests by members of the Oireachtas and public servants and for investigation of possible non-compliance with the legislation. It provides for the publication of Codes of Conduct for office holders, for ordinary members of the Dáil, for ordinary members of the Seanad and for public servants, and also a requirement that members of the Oireachtas and appointees to senior office in the public service furnish evidence of tax compliance.
The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 was commenced on 1 September 2015. It is designed to provide appropriate transparency on 'who is lobbying whom about what', and allows all sections of society to reach informed evidence-based judgments regarding the extent to which different interest groups are able to access the decision-making processes. The Act sets out arrangements for bringing transparency to lobbying activities through a web-based register. For further details, see: https://www.lobbying.ie/. Provisions in the Act regarding enforcement commenced on the 1st January 2017.
The Programme for Government contains commitments in relation to both ethics and lobbying legislation.
The Standards in Public Office Commission is responsible for regulatory functions in relation to the above legislation, including maintaining and publishing relevant registers, and investigating complaints. For further details, see: http://www.sipo.ie/en/.
To further promote transparency and accountability, a modernised, consolidated, restructured, more accessible Freedom of Information Act 2014 was introduced in October 2014. The 2014 Act made a significant number of additional bodies subject to the FOI, now approaching some 600 organisations. The Information Commissioner, an independent statutory officer, is responsible for carrying out reviews of decisions made under the Act as well as oversight of the operation of this legislation. For further details, see: http://foi.gov.ie/ http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/.
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides robust statutory protections for workers in both the public and private sectors against the real or potential penalisation by their employers where they have brought concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace to light (whistleblowing). The Workplace Relations Commission has developed a statutory code of practice on the Act (S.I. No. 464 of 2015). For further information on the Protected Disclosures Act, see: http://www.per.gov.ie/en/protected-disclosures-i-e-whistleblowing/. The transposition into Irish law of the EU Whistleblowing Directive is currently being progressed.
Significant changes were made to the process of State board appointments during 2014, with the broad objectives of providing access to State board opportunities to as wide a pool of candidates as possible, strengthening the performance of State boards by identifying and securing high-quality membership, and attaining a high level of transparency in the selection and appointment of board members by Ministers. For further details, see: http://www.stateboards.ie/stateboards/.
Finally, I would also like to mention Our Public Service 2020 (OPS2020). This is the framework for development and innovation in Ireland’s public service. Our Public Service 2020 has an outcomes-driven focus, and has been designed to enable public service organisations to deliver better outcomes for the public. Our Public Service 2020 has identified six high-level outcomes including ‘increased public trust.’ A review of OPS2020 will inform the development of the successor framework- OPS2030.
It is considered that Ireland is well positioned to be a global leader in building greater trust between Government and its citizens. Ireland scored well above the European average on our public service values in the Public Sector Trends’ report (Public Sector Trends, Boyle, Institute of Public Administration 2019) - providing Ireland with a strong platform to lead by example.
