Labour will reform the Public Sector
Issued : Friday 22 May, 2009
We know we need economic (taxation reforms and a stimulus plan) reforms but we also need public sector reform.
Here's what Eamon Gilmore, TD said about public sector reform at today's IMPACT conference:
EXTRACT FROM SPEECH BY EAMON GILMORE TD
Leader of the Labour Party
To Impact Services and Enterprises Divisional Conference
Friday, 22 May, 2009
NOT FOR USE BEFORE 10.30am
The Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Eamon Gilmore today told the IMPACT Trade Union that a Labour led Government would reform the public service and he cautioned against old style industrial relations.
Deputy Gilmore was addressing the IMPACT Services and Enterprises Divisional Conference in Portlaoise where he said; “Labours reform of the public service will be characterised by a commitment to good quality public services and by respect for public servants.
Deputy Gilmore continued, “For many commentators, though, the reaction to the economic crisis has not been to look for unity, but for division. There has been, in some quarters, a sustained campaign of abuse, against the public service and public servants.
“It reached the point where an outside observer might have believed that the recession was started by teachers, nurses and Gardai, rather than by bankers and developers; that the crisis emerged from schools and hospitals, and not from the Galway tent.
“There has been a lot of ill-informed and vulgar abuse, often based more on caricatures than reality.
“Trying to set one group of employees against another is a well-worn strategy of conservatives down the years. It has never been a real solution to anything.
“But. We do have to ask ourselves, why it was so plausible? Why the public image of public services has been so eroded?”
Deputy Gilmore told the delegates, “To defend the services you deliver to the public - you now need allies and friends among the general public.
You need to reverse some of the public perceptions of the public service.
“This therefore is not a time for industrial relations tactics which may have worked for you in the past but which now will only further alienate a wider public who are worried about the security of their own jobs and businesses.
“Now is a time to explain what you do; to win over the customer and the client; to show that you want to pull together to get us all out of this economic mess.
Deputy Gilmore went on to outline a new approach to public service reform which puts an emphasis on better value for money, open recruitment and a greater concentration on the more effective management of front line services.”
Cllr 
