NEWTON'S OPTIC: CRISIS? WHAT crisis? A quick trawl through the recruitment ads in public
sector cyberspace reveals that all is well on Planet Quango, writes
Newton Emerson
Why else would the Health Information and Quality Authority be seeking a quality and information manager on a salary of up to €62,210? The successful applicant will "manage information between the Operations Division, the Policy and Performance Division and the Office of the Chief Inspector".
There is no information on why Ireland needs a Health Information and Quality Authority plus a separate Health Research Board. However, the Health Research Board is seeking its own health information manager on up to €82,807 so further information may soon be forthcoming.
Failing that, the Citizens Information Board is seeking a Senior Manager of Development and Support on up to €112,191.
The Citizens Information Board is "the statutory agency responsible for supporting the provision of information, advice and advocacy to the public on the broad range of social and civil services".
Members of the public who advocate a narrower range of civil services are presumably advised to look elsewhere.
The Health and Safety Authority is seeking an assistant chief executive of compliance advice on up to €118,897. There are many pieces of compliance advice that the successful candidate could offer the Health and Safety Authority. For example, last year's €27 million budget really ought to have resulted in more than 31 prosecutions.
Sustainable Energy Ireland is seeking a head of policy on up to €95,000. The successful candidate will "co-ordinate and manage the policy work of Sustainable Energy Ireland and influence the policy agenda at a national, European and international level".
You might think that managing policy and influencing agendas is a job for an elected politician. If so, you are clearly not qualified for a job with a quango.
Outsourcing policy is also the policy at the Department of Enterprise, which is seeking an assistant secretary for its competitiveness and international affairs division on up to €158,644.
The successful candidate will be responsible for "devising, promoting and/or advocating policies, across the range of Government's spheres of influence, which drive competitiveness, innovation and productivity". There is nothing like a public sector job paying five times the average private sector wage to drive competitiveness, innovation and productivity.
But it is not all champagne and caviar on the gravy train. Mostly it is just gravy. The Irish Environmental Network, funded by the Department of the Environment, is seeking a biodiversity policy coordinator on €30,000.
The successful candidate will "oversee the development and implementation of a targeted strategy to compile and communicate a series of biodiversity policy recommendations for the incorporation of biodiversity considerations into general and specific policy making".
What is the prospect of this person recommending less biodiversity?
The Swan Youth Service, funded by the Dublin Youth Services Board, is seeking a youth justice worker on up to €47,351. The successful candidate will work with "10-21-year-olds at risk". A youth "at risk" is one who poses a risk to everyone else.
The final mention must go to Dublin City Council, which is seeking an assistant heritage officer at up to €69,214. Duties include street naming, graveyard management and implementing the current five-year City Heritage Plan.
I realise that capitalism collapsed last Tuesday, but does Dublin really need a Five Year Plan?