Sir, – Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath is to appoint an independent review group (yes, yet another one) to examine the process for appointing top public servants (News, February 3rd). That group will examine how more private-sector applicants can be attracted to senior roles in the civil and public service. I think I can save the review group some toil. We might see more applicants from the private sector if those who currently take the trouble to apply were not wasting their time in doing so.
Arthur Beesley's piece on "the titanic task" of reforming the Civil Service ("The public service: Not fit for purpose or unfairly maligned?", Analysis, January 15th) includes the following gem. In 2020, 70 per cent of the applicants for top-level positions came from outside the Civil Service but those from within the service, who accounted for only 30 per cent of the applications, landed 100 per cent of the jobs.
Of course it may be the case that the successful applicant was in every case the best person for the role. But seriously, what are the odds?
If the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who has shown himself to be an adept at public expenditure, has any interest in the reform bit of his title, he might give his mind to this statistical curiosity. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.