PARTY REACTIONS:THE PUBLIC sector reforms announced by the Government were "but a pale reflection of the changes that really should be undertaken", according to Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton.
Labour's Joan Burton said the Government announcement "spectacularly failed to live up to the hype that preceded its publication".
Green Party Senator Dan Boyle welcomed the reforms, while recognising that it was "more of a statement of intent than a detailed plan".
Commenting that "this is not the radical approach to public sector reform that was promised", Mr Bruton said: "This Government is always just one more review away from action. This is the fifth review announced since the general election. In that time not a single red cent has been saved from public service reform.
"In the past three months this Government has committed itself to pay €2,000 million in public pay increases that will have to be met by public borrowing. It is incomprehensible that these commitments were made before any decisions or agreements on the reforms needed to improve services and efficiency.
"The public were led to expect root and branch reform of the sort that is needed at a time when the economy is facing huge challenges and the public finances are in freefall. They have been sorely disappointed."
Labour's deputy leader and finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the statement was another case of "much ado about nothing".
"The report seems to be primarily a cocktail of ideas lifted from the OECD report on public service reform, published in April, and a number of previous Government initiatives dressed up to look new."
She continued: "The Labour Party fully supports the need for public service reform and to secure value for [money]. However, anyone who uses public services will be disappointed at the lack of specific proposals for improvement in the services on which they depend.
"Fianna Fáil has now been in power for almost 11 years and Mr Cowen has had direct responsibility for the public service for almost four years, but they have delivered little or nothing in the way of real public service reform," Ms Burton said in a statement.
Welcoming the statement, Green Party finance spokesman Senator Dan Boyle added: "Recognising that this represents more of a statement of intent than a detailed plan, the Greens, as a party of Government, are looking forward to fleshing out the details of many of these proposals, particularly in relation to legislation."
The Green Party chairman continued: "I believe that the object of this exercise should be to enhance the positive aspects of our public services while at the same time identifying and removing the aspects which reduce efficiency and efficacy. This should not strictly be a balance-sheet-led approach.
"The setting of a specified period of time during which this change should be implemented means that there is an onus on the Government to bring into being concrete proposals to achieve the transformation of public services as quickly as possible, in line with public demand," Mr Boyle said.
