Top civil servants call for decentralisation advice service
At their annual conference in Dublin yesterday, members of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) also expressed renewed concern that plans to decentralise 10,000 civil servants to 53 locations will seriously disrupt services to the public.
Some 30 motions passed by members yesterday addressed decentralisation and called on the union to address numerous areas of concern with the Government. While some motions dealt with the disruption decentralisation will cause numerous other issues such as paid leave during relocations and the question of promotions were also raised. However, recent Government proposals, shying away from the previous policy of linking promotion prospects directly to decentralisation, have subdued union anger.
Instead of restricting all promotions to staff willing to relocate, the new compromise will allow promotions to continue within Government departments with certain exceptions.
All promotions between different departments will, however, involve a commitment to decentralise.
AHCPS general secretary Sean O’Riordan said the issue remained crucial but he welcomed the new plan.
“The promotion issue is hugely important but the new proposals from the Department of Finance are better than the old ones.”
Members also voted overwhelmingly for the introduction of strict guidelines governing interaction between civil servants and ministerial advisors.
The move follows considerable dissatisfaction over the Travers report into the nursing home charges scandal, which queried the role of advisers while apportioning most of the blame to civil servants.
The union will now call on the Government to put the role and responsibilities of ministerial advisors on a statutory footing.
