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IN THE WAKE of the recent scandal engulfing former Minister Frances Fitzgerald and the Department of Justice, a public servants union has said its members should not be subjected to a “concerted campaign of denigration”.
The Association of Higher and Civil Public Servants (AHCPS) said that its members will cooperate fully if required to give evidence before the Disclosures Tribunal and that they are committed to principles of integrity, impartiality and accountability.
After Fitzgerald resigned on Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ordered an external investigation to try to find out why the emails discussing the legal strategy adopted by Nóirín O’Sullivan’s legal team against Maurice McCabe were not provided to the tribunal “when they should have been”.
Varadkar added that he “never wants to be put in that position again” where he had been given incorrect information to present to the Dáil. “The House can be sure I will be holding the Department and its senior officials to account,” he said.
That same day, the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Noel Waters retired with immediate effect.
The AHCPS said its members are held to account on their performance and effectiveness on a “regular basis” and is committed to “openness and transparency”.
“However, we take issue with any use of broad brush characterisation of the work of the civil service ahead of the [Charleton] inquiry,” it said. “It does a huge disservice to the thousands of people who work on a daily basis to support government, the public and agencies of the State.
Civil servants are entitled to due process and should not be subjected to a witch hunt or a concerted campaign of denigration ahead of the Inquiry. Nor should they be scapegoated for the purposes of political expediency or in an attempt to overtly simplify complex issues and interactions.
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Ther shouldn’t be scapegoated but should be held accountable.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: nor should they try to dilute the responsibility down to the wider staff. “We’re all in this together lads, let’s push back together”.
It’s a senior management problem, they’re not so down with togetherness when lower ranks are in the spotlight.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: And if found to have failed in their duties perhaps be promoted to Europe to join others in a similar position who were sent before them.White collar workers in Ireland are currently not subject to accountability.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: Can anyone tell me who is the highest paid civil / public servant and how much do they earn including benefits.
@Gareth Cooney: would it not be ministers? Civil servie pay is benchmarked and publically available. Lots of different roles as expected from a binman to the principles and further. Advisors i think are treated slightly different due to specialist knowledge.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: Lie-o’s attempt at deflecting blame to Civil Service was disgraceful.
It was Frances Fitz that was shown to be duplicitious- Publicly supporting Sgt McCabe but in private did nothing to stop Noitin and her wolf pack legal team running amok with his good name. Francis then tried to pretend to the Dail that she had no knowledge of said attempt to blacken his name by Garda brass.
Fitzgerald, Lie-o, Flanagan and the rest of that rotten FG party carry any and all responsibility for Francis Fitzgeralds actions as Minister of Justice.
You cant blame the civil service for lies told in the Dail floor by a duplicitious and untrustworthy minister.
Sgt McCabe and his family are the only ones that have shown any dignity in this whole sorry affair !
Civil servants should not be immune from having to answer for their actions or inactions.
@Fiona deFreyne: what actions or inactions. To say a department is dysfunctional is saying we’re alright the problem is with the other crowd viz the department. Easy prey with no right of answer.
In many private companies when times are tight all staff are interviewed about thier role and asked for suggestions how productivity could be improved. Why can’t same be done?
Those who can’t sufficiently justify existence are informed they will need to improve or seek other opportunities. Unions would never allow such common sense
@ginger tomatoes i9: That’s the private sector, the public think they are untouchable and are really. When we as voters, start getting tough and demanding action? You’ll see change, when we don’t care and don’t act. Then the people, who are paid by us don’t worry and do what they like.
@Stephen murphy: The person responsible for not giving the emails should be charged because that is the law,
@ginger tomatoes i9: How did you jump from a company in need of fresh ideas to demanding that people “justify their existence”?? No wonder we have so many suicides in this country.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: When employees are working below par they are asked to improve. You went for that to suicides. That’s one hell of a jump
This Unions members caused most of the problem through their dysfunctional operation of the justice department. These civil servants should be held accountable for their actions or inactions.
@Locojoe: wow. What about the Minister? Varadker was very keen that she should get due process but not apparently her civil servants. Typical politician
@Michael Garvey: The Minister was forced to resign.
But they are “committed to principles of ” integrity impartiality and accountability “. Hahahahaha. Of course they are.
TRANSLATION : Union representing Civil Servants say they should not be held to account for their nefarious deeds.
Ministers should be accountable they are in charge of there department if they are not capable of taking charge or know what’s going on then they should not be minister’s
hold people to account an watch “stress” related absenteeism rocket.
If the truth be known it is more likely that the Ministers are depending on the senior staff to guide them along and advise them of their brief. Ministers come and go but it is the Civil Service who keep the show on the road.
@Aine O Connor: or keep it off the road as the case maybe
@Aine O Connor: trying to indicate they do no wrong ? Much of the ills of the HSE for example are hidden senior civil untouchable servants. People need to be held accountable for their decisions inputs and outcomes they should be no different than anyone else hiding behind the skirt of the union making entire departments culpable for their failings no thanks. Accountability!
I hope that these union heads are not getting paid as civil servants and as union Leaders or are they getting paid on the double by any chance?
@Paul Mc: I believe union officials are benchmarked to department management salaries. So they’re not doing too badly.
@Paul Mc: Go back to bed, Paul. You’re drunk.
The problem with the civil/public service is the poor managemnet culture that exists. The majority of senior managers are promoted into positions that are way above their heads. They get into these positions by being ‘YES’ men. This management structure divides staff. If the management are questioned in any way, they rally together and bully because the management are insecure about their positions. Theynever address the problems but go after the staff that highlighted the problems. In turn the staff working under these idiots are beaten down and simply dont care about their roles. This culture promotes negativity, poor work practices and low morale. Its a toxic environment to work in. Its the management culture that needs to change.
@Peter Redmond: plenty lazy staff hide behind poor mgmt as an excuse to do very little. Needs holistic solution looking at all including mgmt
@ginger tomatoes i9: I agree with you but it goes back to my point of the poor mgmt structures. If the mgmt do their job correctly and in a positive manner staff under them will in turn do their tasks in a positive and correct fashion. Creating a healthy environment to work in is half the battle. There will always be lazy people in every walk of life but if managed in a positive way you can get the best out of them. The senior mgmt are never wrong in the civil service!
I suppose if they were doing their jobs properly in the first place, nobody would need to be scapegoated. But they’re happy to spread the blame and tell us it’s everybody’s fault when things go wrong.
The Civil Service mentality seems to be “keep your head down, don’t make waves, wait for the pension “
Business as usual then
Well, they have had their Salaries slashed for years, you get what you pay for!
@Maire: They didn’t have salaries slashed they got increments every year – that’s an increase in salary.
@Annmoore: Only if they had not reached the Top of the Scale!
Did they clarify if the extra mails had been found in first search or not? That is the key question. Did they decide what was to be forwarded or not? It’s a tricky situation as they are probably only authorised to forward relevant data. Also depending on what computer systems are in place to help the search. A previous employer of mine had a 30 day retention period on personal mailboxes – if you need it, move it.
My Da worked for the public service for over 40 years, He told me about some new system they were bringing in.
The thing is they never asked any of the front line staff or mgmt about the implementation of it.
Ended up they binned the system at the cost of 1000s as it was not fit for purpose,I asked him what happened the senior mgmt bringing it in he said they got a promotion.
@Dave Byrne: Only the other day, my uncle was reminding us that back when he first bought a house, there was a year’s wait to get a telephone landline. Well, people don’t just go away and forget all about long delays. Often they can’t go away. I remember the massive backlog to get a passport, until a better system came in. That worked out well, eventually. Even if they need two tries at it, it’s great when people actually get cracking on things and make them work.
It’s one of those irregular verbs, isn’t it? I am scapegoated, you are accountable, he/she/it is employed by someone who can actually fire them.
@David Murray,
I take it you are a not so civil servant?
All they had to do was give a credible explanation for not telling the Dail and Tribunal about the emails.
Time for a complete clear out of top management in this Dept. Typical Union intervention though…defending the indefensible !
Whats happening to Noreen O’Sullivan will she be charged or get away with it.
The minister at the time resigned so in what way are civil servants being scapegoated over others?
Do we live in a nobody does anything wrong society?????
Bankers not accountable for Fraud
Gardai not accountable for telling lies
Politicians not accountable for anything
Why make civil servants accountable?
This is what comes of a lazy electorate !!!!!
The union doesn’t want its members held accountable for their actions.. suprise suprise
No accountability ever
That needs to change
Pure joke the civil service
Same crap over and over
Bullshit
Accountable yes hung out to dry no
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