Sir, Lawrence W. White (May 22nd) wonders how the Progressive Democrats can advocate lower public expenditure while demanding better performance from the public service. Fintan O'Toole asked a similar question some weeks ago.
Mr O'Toole and Mr White seem to assume that cost is the only determinant of the performance of the public service. Spend more for more services or for higher quality spend less, and you'll have fewer or poorer services. But this assumes that all public services, of a given quality, are currently provided at the lowest possible cost. That is manifestly not so.
In recent weeks some nurses have suggested that, as they get older, their ability to do their job is reduced. If I understood them correctly, they argued that taxpayers should therefore provide them with enhanced pensions to buy them out of their jobs.
I do not know whether it is true that the competence of nurses declines with age. However, if it is, I suggest that incompetent nurses should be sacked immediately and replaced with fitter, cheaper ones. Similarly, those teachers who are no longer able to perform effectively should be sacked. If the managers of taxpayers's money can provide a given (or a better) service more cheaply, they should do so. Their duty is to the electorate as a whole, not to the interests of a small group of our servants.
Thereafter, the State should employ nobody on a lifetime contract. Teachers, nurses and others whose enthusiasm and ability are likely to decline with time should be given only five year contracts and encouraged to seek employment elsewhere after that period. They could apply for further contracts after broadening their experience, perhaps moving in and out of the public service several times.
It is possible to provide the current level of services more cheaply. But I would go further I am not convinced that we need the current level of public services. Why, for instance, is the State involved in gathering seaweed or giving prizes to greyhounds? Why is it employing inspectors to regulate the activities of boring, bunching, drifting, flirting, fork lifting and knurdling? And why can't we close the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht? Yours, etc., Stradbally North, Castleconnell, Co Limerick.