DAIL REPORT: A Bill to transform public service recruitment will damage the political adviser system and will "corrode" the independence of the Civil Service, it has been claimed in the Dáil.
Labour's deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, said it would now be possible to appoint special advisers to the Civil Service, something that had been specifically prohibited under previous legislation.
Special advisers for ministers were "a necessary sounding board" for public opinion. It was always understood, however, that, once a political regime left office, its political advisers would go with it.
But subsuming them into the Civil Service was "corrosive and has not been properly thought out by the Government".
He said that under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Bill, "we will damage the political adviser system, which should be preserved.
"And we will corrode the independence of the Civil Service because people will see those of a political bent being placed at a high level in key departments," Mr Howlin said.
However, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, who wound up the second-stage debate on the legislation, insisted it was the Government's priority to ensure that the reputation for impartiality and independence in public service recruitment would continue to remain beyond reproach.
The legislation was a significant milestone on the road to a more efficient public service, he said, and he stressed that the Bill was fully supported by the existing local appointments commission.
Two new bodies will be established to replace the old Civil Service Commission to allow for local recruitment.
Mr Parlon said that the new commission "will not only strictly regulate recruitment under licence but will ensure that the highest standards of probity and integrity are applied to areas of the public service which are not now subject to independent regulation".
Local recruitment must be a feature of future human resources arrangement, and the devolution of the power to recruit would not affect the career structures of the Civil Service.
Mr Michael D. Higgins (Lab, Galway West) warned that the Dáil was being asked to reform a system "of legal certainty into something that will be, as described in this legislation, a code of practice".
He said he did not defend the existing practices of the Local Appointments Commission, which were deficient, but the new authority would be entitled to charge fees to applicants, and this was "disastrous".
Mr Bernard Durkan (FG, Kildare North) described the legislation as "bad, ill-advised" and "a politicisation of the civil and public service which have served us well since the foundation of the State".
However, Dr Dermot Fitzpatrick (FF, Dublin Central) defended the legislation and said it would complement the recent decentralisation programme, by ensuring that the necessary human resource policies would be in place to support and assist the changes that were coming.
The public appointments system was too rigid and cumbersome to accommodate modern labour market conditions with too slow a response to recruitment requirements.
The Bill would enable a more locally focused approach to recruitment and promotion.
The Bill passed the second stage by 58 votes to 43 and now goes to committee stage for a discussion of amendments.
