Lack of communication, inequalities of treatment within the office, overwork and stress, lack of leadership and a failure to implement the recommendations of consultants' reports are among the problems alleged in an internal document on human relations in the Chief State Solicitor's Office.
However, the former Chief State Solicitor, Mr Michael Buckley, who retired last March, told The Irish Times he disputed many of the report's claims, especially that there was lack of communication or inequality of treatment.
He said a lot of the problems arose from lack of resources and the overworking of existing staff.
The document opens with a checklist of "Symptoms of `an unhealthy firm' that are arguably present in the CSSO." These include "reports and investigations are commissioned, often at great expense, but are watered down before they are shown to staff and excuses are then found to avoid implementing the recommended actions"; "change, if it happens at all, is only made in reaction to events, comment, not on a proactive basis"; and "when things go wrong, management feel no one is to blame, and stress their inability to influence events".
The authors cite the imminent transfer of the crime section of the office to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the "current threats to Personal Injuries and Conveyancing" and the decision to openly advertise the position of the next Chief State Solicitor.
The report was drawn up by a sub-committee under Partnership 2000, and followed consultation with the staff. It was obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act. Access to the correspondence relating to the document was partially refused, but The Irish Times has seen correspondence in which the then Chief State Solicitor, Mr Buckley, claims the document is defamatory and asks for it to be withdrawn.
The letter from Mr Buckley, dated February 10th, 2000, is addressed to the sub-committee and reads: "I was appalled when I read it . . . quotations are clearly defamatory of me and members of the office MAC . . . I direct that the report be withdrawn and that all copies be recalled and returned to me. I further require that a written retraction be provided to those who have been defamed. I direct that the meeting scheduled for Tuesday the 15th should not take place."
The document was then amended to take account of some of these objections before it was presented in its final form. An appendix was added containing a management response to the criticisms in the body of the document.
Mr Buckley told The Irish Times that the way in which the document was prepared explained its tone. Members of staff had been invited to make comments including criticisms.
The report repeatedly draws attention to recommendations in a 1996 report from consultants' Deloitte & Touche which had not been implemented.
"Deloitte & Touche (1996) found that no particular commitment to best practice in HRM could be found in the CSSO. They recommended the recruitment of an experienced Personnel Manager and recommended specific Human Resource Management initiatives. This has not happened."
Mr Buckley said that the personnel officer's was a developing role. "Up to 1995 there was only an establishment office. Then someone came in and took over administration. Personnel is still very thin on the ground. There was no availability of staff for a human resource person."
In a section on the Chief State Solicitor, the sub-committee quoted again from the Deloitte & Touche report, which had said that the primary management responsibilities of the CSS were to provide direction and leadership, and in particular inculcate a culture of quality client service, to provide and control the efficient use of resources, as well a cultivating a human resource culture that allowed staff to realise their full potential.
Other recommendations in this report which, according to the sub-committee, were not implemented, include the setting up of a steering committee to assist in the implementation of change, that the Chief State Solicitor shed a considerable amount of his caseload to meet the strategic objectives of the office, and the setting up of a senior management team, which would be consulted about decisions.
Mr Buckley stressed that every decision was taken following a discussion among management, and denied the office lacked leadership.
The report endorses a statement in the Deloitte & Touche report, "There is a perception that there is no time for management and this perception is, unfortunately, probably correct in the current circumstances." It adds "Section Heads continue to carry too large a caseload to allow them to properly manage their section and are by and large happy if staff turn up for work."
Mr Buckley said this was probably true. "I was carrying 300 cases a year in addition to the other work I was doing. Who do you give it to? To already overworked people? I would have had to get another solicitor to deal with the caseload."
The report also points out that the Deloitte & Touche report found there was a lack of transparency in the promotion process. "A system of promotion needs to be devised that is fair and open and that staff can have confidence in."
Mr Buckley said attempts were made to devise such a system, but it got caught between a global system for the Civil Service as a whole and the union involved.
Stress is clearly a major problem in the CSSO. "Some staff are forced by pressure of their backlog to go in on a Saturday and do extra hours and then spend Sunday planning/worrying what they are going to do at work on Monday. The stress they are under affects their physical and mental health and their quality of life," said the report, with which Mr Buckley agreed.
The management response, which appears as an appendix, says the management perspective may not be fully represented in the document, and that its structure resulted in minority opinions getting too high a profile.
Referring to the Deloitte & Touche recommendations, it accepts that many of them were not implemented, but adds "the recommendations involved were not all accepted by management".
Mr Buckley said the general thrust of this report was implemented.