The Green Party has today rejected suggestions that future generations of top civil servants may be second rate.
Describing remarks made by the chairman of the Higher Public Servants Remuneration Committee Tony O’Brien as "misguided and unhelpful", the party's chairman Senator Dan Boyle said the Civil Service would benefit from the input of individuals recruited from outside the public sector.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr O'Brien said it was the culture 30 years ago that the cream of the country went for public sector jobs. However, he said, the private sector would "attract the cream in the future".
“I’d worry about the future, about 15 years’ time. They won’t be the cream of the nation. They’ll be the second division, and that will be a challenge for the Government,” said Mr O'Brien.
However, Mr Boyle dismissed Mr O'Brien's comments, saying they were wide of the mark.
"There is no doubting the abilities and capabilities of some of our senior officials. But the idea that the civil service could not benefit from external expertise is blinkered. Likewise, at nearly €200,000, the salary of a senior civil servant is definitely not too low to attract suitably talented candidates – especially considering the pension, end-of-service and other benefits that civil servants receive," said Mr Boyle.
Mr Boyle added that Mr O'Brien's sympathy for the former Anglo chief executive and chairman, Seán FitzPatrick, and his view that the bank had a "winning formula" while he was a director during the years 1998 to 2002, cast a doubt on his judgement.
"Anglo was undoubtedly the most irresponsible financial institution in the State right up the point that the Government was forced to step in and take it over in order to rescue the entire Irish banking system. There was nothing winning about Anglo's formula: it consisted of sheer, reckless greed," Senator Boyle said.
In his interview with The Irish Times, Mr O'Brien said Mr FitzPatrick, was a "fairly autocratic" manager.
“Success gave him added freedom and licence. And the shareholders loved him. I chaired four agms and he got a standing ovation at each of them. It was a great shame that it went wrong with Anglo. It was a lovely story for so long. My heart would go out to Seán," he said.