A senior Government minister has accused management in the public service of being 'guilty of negligence' and profligate during the boom.
Speaking this morning, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte was critical of the past record of public service management.
"The management has been guilty of negligence in the past in the public service in my view," he told RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny show.
Describing the reaction of management to union initiatives as "backward", Mr Rabbitte said they failed to implement changes proposed by the unions during the boom years which could have saved money.
“There have been opportunities during the boom - even opportunities when the unions were proffering changes that might profitably be made and management in the public service were backward in coming forward.”
The Cabinet is today expected to sign off on a major review of spending across all Government departments in a move which could lead to a significant reduction in the number of so-called quangos.
In addition to discussing plans by Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin for the comprehensive spending review, the special meeting of the Cabinet this evening is also expected to consider proposals to sell off State assets on foot of a report by economist Colm McCarthy.
The new spending review will involve a root and branch examination of expenditure in Government departments and agencies, and will also set out options on how services can be provided in the future.
Sources have suggested that, in addition to quangos, the new spending review could look at the local authority system and, in particular, at reforms which were recommended last year, including a sharing of management functions between different bodies.
Mr Rabbitte said the Government will need co-operation from management if it is to implement the future changes. However, he said he was concerned at previous shortcomings, adding that the failure of public service management to implement changes in the past "worries" him.
“I can’t see how any Minister can effectively implement the kind of changes and restructuring and reorganisation … that are needed unless he gets the co-operation of those across the whole belt of the service who are expected to manage," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said it would be "very difficult" for the Government to implement changes if those in management "don’t come to the table and do their job".
He said it was apparent from some of the "fault lines" that are now being exposed in the system that management has not always "efficiently" managed resources.
The Minister said he was concerned at the "alarming" increase in recent years in the use of consultants. While this belied an "unwillingness to make a decision", Mr Rabbitte said the use of consultants was largely because serving ministers were "afraid" to make decisions.
"That’s a different matter from going into the market place to get the kind of technical or other professional consultancy advice that one needs in order to make the decisions in a complex modern day public service,” he added.
Meanwhile the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) said primary teachers were delivering more than a million additional hours under the Croke Park agreement. INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said the Croke Park deal was effectively "giving the State more than a thousand teachers for no cost."
Ms Nunan said at the same time, the State was cutting up to 700 primary teaching jobs from the system. "Primary teachers have stepped up to the mark in terms of Croke Park. Everyone in a primary school is doing more for less."
The INTO said there were fewer teachers teaching more children and delivering a better service and there was "no slack to pick up in primary education."
Ms Nunan also said primary schools were implementing redeployment procedures which would pose huge challenges for many existing teachers. She also said the union had greater flexibility in management duties and agreed revised disciplinary procedures.