Civil servants have been “ballyragged” by politicians and media for far too long, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has claimed.
He condemned Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald for her public naming and criticising of senior public servants.
Ms McDonald questioned him in the Dáil this morning about The Irish Times report that Department of Education secretary general Brigid McManus would receive and annual pension of €114,000 a year and an after-tax lump sum payment of €204,000 on retirement next February aged 53.
Ms McManus will voluntarily waive an additional severance payment of €126,817 provided for in her remuneration package.
The Sinn Féin Dublin Central TD also referred to the controversy about the proposed appointment of Department of Finance secretary general Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors in the wake of the department’s €3.6 billion accountancy error.
Ms McDonald highlighted the circumstances of senior public servants when the Government is to cut an estimated 14,500 public service jobs in its pubic sector reforms.
Refusing to respond to the criticisms of senior civil servants’ remuneration packages, Mr Gilmore insisted that the reforms were being introduced “so that we can deliver better, more cost effective services to our public. Yes we have to have accountability and there will be considerably approved accountability”.
“But we have to respect our public servants,” he said.
“Our public servants do a good job and they have been the subject of ballyragging for far too long, ballyragging by people sometimes in media and sometimes…”
Amid Opposition heckling about when he was not in office, Mr Gilmore said “when I sat over there you can’t point to a single occasion that I attacked public servants individually or generally.
Ms McDonald said she too believed in public service and she had the utmost respect for public servants. “I also believe in the accountability of the public and civil service at the highest leadership levels.
“I have put the matter directly to the secretary general from the Department of Finance vis-a-vis his proposed appointment to the EU court of auditors and he did answer what I have to say and I have to say the answers weren’t very convincing.”
She told the Tánaiste: “You can’t run away from the issue of high level accountability if you are serious about reform.
“It might fit you better Tánaiste to demonstrate respect to the ordinary citizens of this State who rely on public services and those public services require to be staffed adequately.”
Mr Gilmore said there “will be an adequate staffing level and as I said at the very beginning, the quality of the service to be delivered to the public has been at the centre of the decisions that the Government has made about the reorganisation and reform of our public services”.
He added: “There is a need to reform our public services” to have a more efficient public service, delivering value for money, accountability and change.
“I respect public servants and I respect the work that they do and I think people in this House should show that respect as well," he said.