Public sector reform is an expression that falls lightly into the lap of public discourse. Everyone speaks up for ‘public sector reform’ and few if any would disagree that the sector needs constant reforming and improvement. That said, I can’t remember the last time I heard the expression ‘private sector reform’. Yet, the genesis of the recent economic crash globally as well as domestically lay very much in the private sector where a culture of greed, impunity, inappropriate risk and short-term shareholder value prevailed over a more prudent, socially responsible and stakeholder-driven ethos. Add to this egregious failures in the domain of public sector regulation of the private sector as well as the growth in a huge non-productive and largely speculative global finance sector and we had the perfect economic storm.
The local Irish version of this was the threesome love affair involving property, finance and unaccountable politics and we saw the perfect economic storm magnified. The crisis in public finances was a symptom of the crisis in banking, property and construction greatly exacerbated by a sharp downturn in international trade in 2009. However, the crisis also exposed large gaps in the performance, capacity and competence of the public sector.
Which areas of public sector performance need reform and how? It must be acknowledged, at the outset, that the Irish public sector in common with public sectors abroad is a large and diffuse service covering many areas of economic activity and service. The health and education sectors, together, account for about two thirds of total employment in the Irish public sector. Commercial state enterprise activity (what used to be called semi-state commercial companies such as ESB, Bord Gáis, etc) employs just over 50,000. The central administrative functions of the civil service accounts for 38,000 employees while local government accounts for 33,000 employees. The public health sector employs 111,000 staff (CSO source). While difficult to estimate precisely, under 15,000 of these are employed in a ‘non frontline’ capacity (see section 6 of the document here 
). These comprise General Management and Administrative grades, where a health care qualification is not required. In addition there are 9,400 ‘general support staff’ providing non-front line technical, catering, domestic and maintenance support services) to frontline staff. A different way of measuring ‘non-frontline’ staff with more detailed breakdown by grade is contained in a note by IMPACT trade union in 2014 here .
Public sector pay, in the Republic of Ireland, seems to be very roughly in line with that of the OECD average. The most recent OECD edition of Government at a Glance Indicators (2015) contains analysis of the public sector under different headings. The accompanying online database shows that total compensation (wages plus employer social contributions) of general government employees came to 10.0% of GDP in 2014 in Ireland (Republic of) – 0.6 percentage point lower than the OECD average of 10.6% of GDP. The corresponding 2010 figure was 12.3% in Ireland compared to an OECD average of 11.1%.
Turning to employment the most recently available data provided by the OECD show that the Republic of Ireland has a lower proportion of persons working in the public sector compared to the average across OECD countries in 2013 (the comparison is based on total labour force which includes the unemployed).
Levels of remuneration and size of workforce do not tell us how efficient a public service is. However, on the face of these indicators it cannot be concluded that the Irish public service is bloated or over-paid compared to OECD norms. However, in key areas of service delivery including health and education there is scope everywhere and always to continue improvements. Caution, however, is necessary. Too often the term and concept of ‘reform’ may be mixed up with an agenda that is driven by an ideology of privitisation, commercialisation of public goods such as education and health as well as the introduction of norms and processes from the private commercial world that either do not fit at all or are badly matched with the requirements of the public sphere. Such an ideology may be couched in terms of the ‘customer’ rather than the citizen with right and responsibilities. It may also seek to transform a particular area of public service into a production line as if the service delivered can be reduced to measureable inputs, outputs and indicators. Many parts of the public service involve a complex range of stakeholders, drivers and outcomes. The service provided, for example, by the Garda Síochána, the diplomatic service, the National Treasury Management Agency, schools, hospitals or clerical workers in Government department vary by the nature of the work, the relationship with the general public, those immediately engaged or the purpose and mission of a particular agency. ‘Business planning’, ‘Key performance indicators’ and ‘risk assessment’ audits may very well serve a positive purpose in holding agencies and individuals to account as well as helping focus people on priorities. However, they can also deflect attention from the real problems and obstacles which could be systemic, cultural and ethical in nature.
By all means, public sector organisations need to continually review their organisational practice, human skills and ‘corporate governance’ procedures. However, a major part of attempts to innovate and change practice lies in such factors as:
- Leadership
- Ethics
- Relationships within and outside an organisation
- Meaningful employee and external stakeholder engagement (and not just box-ticking consultations, focus groups or online surveys)
As in the private sector, the devil is the detail of how information is communicated, values upheld and people held to account in all directions (‘upwards’ and ‘downwards’ to use hierarchical terms as well as horizontally where individuals and organisations need to share information and work together better). This may sound very wish-washy and soft-touch. But, that is the stuff of hard organisation and delivery. And anyone in the profit-driven commercial world will also tell us that….