Labour to tackle 'political cronyism'

The Labour Party has said it would seek the resignation of all persons appointed to State boards since last November when the…

The Labour Party has said it would seek the resignation of all persons appointed to State boards since last November when the Green Party said they would pull out of Government.

The party said it would introduce widespread reforms of the system of making appointments to State boards and would end what it described as "political cronyism" in this area.

Launching a plan for reforming politics and the public service, Pat Rabbitte and Brendan Howlin said that under its proposals, positions on state boards would be open to all qualified candidates.

They said appointments would be subject to scrutiny by Dáil committees and all candidates who would have to undergo an interview.

The party is also to set a ceiling of €190,000 for public sector salaries. However, Mr Rabbitte indicated that it could not "act by diktat" in relation to staff who have existing contracts for higher remuneration.

Labour has also proposed that the level of donations allowed to political parties and candidates should be reduced to €2,500 and €1,000 respectively.

It said political lobbying should be regulated, which would include restrictions how soon former ministers and senior civil servants could would as private lobbyists after leaving office.

Mr Howlin said the party would put in place a constitutional convention which would put the whole of the current Constitution on the table for review by the people.

The party said is would also establish an office of public service reform headed by a Cabinet minister to drive change in this area.

It said it would reduce the number of quangoes and cut back on management layers in the civil and public service. It said is would give managers more freedom to manage their staff and budgets.

Mr Rabbitte said he believed it was important that a structure be in place for dealing with staff in relation to publics service reform, However, he did not envisage any return to the social partnership agreements that were in place under Bertie Ahern's tenure as taoiseach.