Hiring consultants - Spare us the waste and do your job

THERE is a maddening predisposition in public service agencies to spend taxpayers’ money on outside companies and consultants rather than rely on their own resources, especially when those resources are readily available.

In the latest case to come to light, the Health Service Executive paid more than €200,000 to an outside company to hire key personnel despite the Government’s ban on recruiting new staff in the public service.

While the ban was circumvented by exempting certain posts, the use of an outside agency is a damning indictment because the HSE boasts its own National Recruitment Service (NRS), a unit which has 57 full-time staff. Furthermore, the executive can also call on the Public Appointments Service which recruits for such agencies free of charge.