Finance split in two to focus on civil service overhaul

THE incoming government is to introduce a ministry tasked solely with overseeing public expenditure and public sector reform.

The implications of the role for the country’s balance sheet means the new role — widely anticipated to be taken on by Labour’s Joan Burton — is one of two within a newly split Department of Finance.

Nonetheless, in spite of the economic necessity for public spending to be radically reduced, Fine Gael and Labour have stuck to their promise not to impose compulsory redundancies on the public service.