Entering the Department of the Taoiseach entails a walk through security gates, then across a courtyard, and up a wide sweep of steps (the red carpet is railed off) and into Government Buildings . . . an impressive, elegant place to work.
Civil servant Pat Casey will spend his secondment to the Department of the Taoiseach in these pleasant surroundings. The term "career civil servant" comes to mind as Mr Casey details his varied and upwardly mobile career.
After completing his Leaving Certificate in St Brendan's College, Killarney, he headed straight for a desk in the Civil Service, in Dublin. That was 1978 and Pat was in his late teens. "It's unusual now but at that stage it was just accepted.
"I was the eldest of six brothers and sisters. The Civil Service was always seen as a good career. I have no regrets," he says. The Civil Service has offered him a variety of jobs and opportunities as well as funding him to study at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He has steadily climbed the ladder to his present position as assistant principal.
At first, he worked in the Department of Fisheries and Forestry (now the Department of the Marine) as a clerical officer. He studied at night, completing a BSc in public administration with the Institute of Public Administration. The Civil Service is very supportive of continuing education for its employees, he says, and funded him so he could spend the final year of the degree as a full-time student in TCD.
"At that stage I was promoted to executive officer and worked in a number of different offices, including the Minister of State's office and also on the forestry side of the Department." After being seconded to the Legal Aid Board for almost a year, Mr Casey was once again promoted in 1986, this time becoming an administrative officer. This is the graduate recruitment grade, he explains.
Soon after, he decided to take a two-year career break. He worked in merchant banking in London and the leasing and finance sector in Sydney. He returned to the Department of Finance, as an administrative officer, where he worked in the public expenditure division. In 1993, Mr Casey was promoted to his present grade of assistant principal. His new job was in the Civil Service Commission which is the recruitment arm of the Civil Service. It also recruits for certain senior and professional posts in local authorities and health boards.
Three years later, Mr Casey was on the move again, this time seconded to the Department of the Taoiseach to work as a member of a cross-departmental team on the "strategic management initiative".
He waxes eloquent about the initiative which was launched in 1994 by the then Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds. There are three key aims: "that public bodies would contribute to economic and social development; that an excellent service to the public should be provided; that resources (finance, staff, etc) should be used effectively by public bodies". It has led to legislation such as the Public Service Management Act 1997 and the Freedom of Information Act 1997. In July this year, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, launched the next phases of the Strategic Management Initiative. Mr Casey says this signalled the movement from working groups towards implementation. He expects to continue his work on the SMI team for the next couple of years.
"Working in the Civil Service is very challenging. I've had an opportunity to do some very interesting and varied types of work," he says. "The emphasis now is much more on results and performance rather than just putting in the hours."
The terms and conditions of employment are attractive, he adds, with flexi-time, a pleasant working environment and pension entitlements. There are also flexible working arrangements available with "family-friendly hours" and the opportunity to take a career break.
There is strong support for education and ongoing career development opportunities, says Mr Casey. He was funded for his degree and is now doing a masters part-time in the Irish Management Institute and TCD, attending college on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
More than 29,000 people are employed in the Civil Service, making it the State's largest employer. This number includes more than 11,000 clerical staff, 8,000 executive/administrative staff and 4,000 specialist professionals in a wide variety of disciplines. Open recruitment is general for three grades: clerical officer, executive officer and administrative officer.
There is a hierarchy of grades from clerical offer to staff officer to executive officer to administrative officer and higher executive officer. From there, it's upwards to assistant principal, principal, assistant secretary and secretary general (a Government appointee).
Like other employers, the Civil Service is now finding itself having to compete to attract employees. The old days when the Civil Service offered every mother's dream of a permanent, pensionable job have been supplanted by a booming economy which offers a huge variety of prospects to school-leavers and graduates.
