I know a public sector organisation in Cork that still has a recruitment office when they are not recruiting. They have a training office - when no significant training is occuring in the organisation. They have many offices of people swanning around.
The funny thing is all this type of thing is accepted & it has to be funded.
We don't need a major - not mind having a City Major and County Major. City Manager and County Manager.
How many Directors Of Service are employed by Cork and City Councils?
In all honesty and as is reported, if this Croke Park thing is not sorted out before the end of August, then the IMF are going to move in and sort out the public/ civil service.
So with the good grace of God this will happen, because that will be a once in a life time opportunity to sort these leeches out. After all lads we all know the political will just is not there and the reason for this is, there are too many voters working in these sectors.
Either the IMF or a dictator....will sort us.
So then back to the subject matter, there won't be any traffic wardens in Douglas, so then they can just get the signs and stick them where the sun does not shine.
To be quite honest, I'm really doubtful about the proposals to merge local authorities. There are a small number of places it might work - Dublin, Tipperary, Carlow & Kilkenny - but in general whenever we've pursued a policy of centralising into a larger body, it's lead to the marginalization of peripheral regions and a drop in the quality of services delivered.
Bus Eireann. A complete disaster at running Cork's bus service, never mind smaller centres.
The HSE. Busy closing local facilities and creating "super-efficient" local ones. That's great when it creates a situation where there are no socialist cancer centres north of a line from Dublin to Galway. It's not like travelling is easy for someone receiving cancer treatment. Having a heart attack in Lahinch? The good news is that your local A&E is now in Limerick.
The HSE is busy making decisions that wouldn't be made more locally.
For a completely different example, Ireland used to have loads of small local distilleries. We sold as much whiskey as Scotland did. Cue the creation of Irish Distillers. We start concentrating on a very small number of brands that are going to dominate the world. Scotland starts whipping our ass.
If you're sitting in a think tank/management consulting firm in Dublin, merging bodies makes so much more sense for the efficiency it gains. What it neglects to notice is that it has a history of not working, mainly because the bodies that get created are perfect for the current situation, but are completely unadaptable to change.
Gritting the footpaths was largely a matter of funding, not ability. You'll tend to notice that Cork City Council can do things well (e.g. St Lukes regeneration), but there just aren't the resources to do the same around the city.
You have to understand that what you are arguing for is a system that is less able to respond to the concerns of individual citizens and takes away their ability to make their own decisions.
If you were to do that, you'd need another layer beneath it of district councils where local people could make the decisions that directly affect their community. Because, quite frankly the idea of some bureaucrat sitting in an office in Thurles, deciding about the state of the footpaths in Douglas or Dingle frightens me. I'll just have to refer back to the marvelous bus service that Cork gets based on the decisions of someone in Broadstone.
It may be more efficient, but all the efficiency in the world is worth nothing if it doesn't work.
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I read about the dangers of drinking, so I gave up reading.
If you were to do that, you'd need another layer beneath it of district councils where local people could make the decisions that directly affect their community. Because, quite frankly the idea of some bureaucrat sitting in an office in Thurles, deciding about the state of the footpaths in Douglas or Dingle frightens me. I'll just have to refer back to the marvelous bus service that Cork gets based on the decisions of someone in Broadstone.
It may be more efficient, but all the efficiency in the world is worth nothing if it doesn't work.
If you got rid of the 10 -12 local authorities in Cork - you would still have all the area offices.
These area offices exist already.
FG+Labour are bringing in a National Agency for water.
If it is a good idea for water - why not planning?
Pity the government lacks the bottle to implement real reform.
People will have little choice to pay slelth taxes to fund public sector wastage in the absense of bottle by government to cut waste.
And the area offices are not going to be democratically accountable. So they do what they like and screw the people of the area. Proper local governance works in countries all over Europe and the US. It's our half-arsed form that fails, not the idea of local people making decisions for themselves.
As for the water example, it's a good idea for a national grid, I'm not convinced it's the best method locally if it's a government-delivered service.
__________________
I read about the dangers of drinking, so I gave up reading.
To be quite honest, I'm really doubtful about the proposals to merge local authorities. There are a small number of places it might work - Dublin, Tipperary, Carlow & Kilkenny - but in general whenever we've pursued a policy of centralising into a larger body, it's lead to the marginalization of peripheral regions and a drop in the quality of services delivered.
Bus Eireann. A complete disaster at running Cork's bus service, never mind smaller centres.
The HSE. Busy closing local facilities and creating "super-efficient" local ones. That's great when it creates a situation where there are no socialist cancer centres north of a line from Dublin to Galway. It's not like travelling is easy for someone receiving cancer treatment. Having a heart attack in Lahinch? The good news is that your local A&E is now in Limerick.
The HSE is busy making decisions that wouldn't be made more locally.
For a completely different example, Ireland used to have loads of small local distilleries. We sold as much whiskey as Scotland did. Cue the creation of Irish Distillers. We start concentrating on a very small number of brands that are going to dominate the world. Scotland starts whipping our ass.
If you're sitting in a think tank/management consulting firm in Dublin, merging bodies makes so much more sense for the efficiency it gains. What it neglects to notice is that it has a history of not working, mainly because the bodies that get created are perfect for the current situation, but are completely unadaptable to change.
They merged all the health boards and created a monster, why? Mainly because that prick Bertie Ahern organised to keep the unions sweet by agreeing that no one would lose their jobs.
Then onto the old CIE, again to my knowledge, no one lost their job, but not quite the same as the HSE experience as these were 3 different sections of one organisation, eg, urban routes was Dublin, rural was outside Dublin and then there was the trains.
I wonder did Irelands embrace of all those European directives have much to do with the demise of all those small whiskey manufacturers you mentioned.
I do think though that the biggest problem in this country is accountability in the civil/ public service. No one takes responsibility for anything. If they make a wrong decision they get rewarded FFS.
I think that the local authories should be combined but responsible management is the key. And more importantly tell the unions where to go, we are now living in an age that they are not required any way with all of these rules, regulations and directives.
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