Nurses and doctors top latest Public Sector trust rankings

Fewer people trust gardaí than trust nurses and doctors while trust in the Government has fallen over the past year, according to a new report.

The Public Sector Trends 2019 report states the level of trust in public servants is “much higher than the level of trust in the government or parliament”.

There is also over 90% trust in nurses and doctors to tell the truth.

This drops to 73% for the gardaí, down from 81% the previous year, and 63% for civil servants.

The report, by the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), also says there was a dramatic fall in the level of trust in government in Ireland from 2008 to 2010.

“Trust in government in the rest of Europe also fell, but only slightly,” it states.

“In autumn 2010, Ireland expressed the lowest level of trust in government of any of the then EU27 - 10%.

“In spring 2011, the level of public trust increased significantly to 42% expressing trust in the Irish government, reflecting the election of a new government.

“This fell back to 22% by autumn 2011.”

Trust in government has increased since 2013, though there has been a small drop in trust since spring 2018.

Trust in government in Ireland in spring 2019 stood at 42%.

The report also says that more people are working in the public service now than at the time of the crash, in 2008.

According to a report out yesterday into the public service, numbers went up to 335,000 in 2019.

This is up on the 320,000 number employed 11 years ago.

However, while employment is now higher in the civil service, education, health and non-commercial state agency sectors than in 2008, it remains lower in justice, defence and local authority sectors.

And while the numbers are up, so too are our satisfaction ratings for public servants.

In 2019, 64% viewed the civil service as either very or fairly efficient.

This is the highest figure recorded since the IPA survey started in 2005. The perceived level of efficiency was above that achieved in 2009, but below that of 2006.

Most members of the public are satisfied with the service received from the civil service. Some 85% of those surveyed were either very or fairly satisfied in 2019.

The level of satisfaction is higher than in the four previous surveys in 2005, 2009, 2015 and 2017.

The report also says Ireland is the third highest country in Europe with regard to level of trust in the army, with a score of 83%.

This category had the highest European average trust score of all the public services surveyed, at 73%.

“The report examines trends in public sector development and is the tenth in our annual series,” Dr Marian O’Sullivan, Director General of the Institute of Public Administration, said.

“The intention is to help inform the debate on Ireland’s public sector and public administration, and its role in Irish society.

“We try to bring some evidence to bear on the important debate on the future shape, size and direction of the public sector.

“Using data gathered from a number of sources, information on the size and cost of the public sector, the quality of public administration, efficiency and performance, and levels of trust and confidence is presented in a simple but rigorous manner.”