Taoiseach’s ‘health check’ for departments

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday launched plans to review key Government departments — but the evaluation won’t begin until after the election.

It means any flaws in the performance of the departments — flaws for which ministers are ultimately responsible — won’t be known to the electorate on polling day.

Work on the “health check”, as Mr Ahern labelled it, will not begin until the summer — a full year after he had first announced the initiative.

The Opposition quickly criticised the last-minute nature of the review.

“The Fianna Fáil/PD government’s organisational health check has come 10 years too late — this patient is terminal,” a Fine Gael spokesman said.

“Miracle cures at the last minute will be in short supply for this Government.”

A Labour spokesman said: “This is the administration that brought us such fiascoes such as electronic voting and PPARS. It is now almost two years since Labour and Fine Gael jointly published a major policy document aimed at eliminating waste and mismanagement and ensuring better value for taxpayers’ money. The Government is clearly playing a belated version of catch-up,” the spokesman added.

“It is going to take more than this to convince the public that a government containing such people as Martin Cullen, Noel Dempsey and Dick Roche can deliver the level of efficiency required.”

But Mr Ahern said the reviews would ensure that individual organisations had the capabilities “to deal with the challenges that they face”.

The reviews will be overseen by a committee made up of senior public servants and independent members. It will report directly to the Taoiseach.