The leader of Ireland’s Green Party has called for a major expansion of the country’s Public Service, saying up to 30,000 new jobs were needed.
Eamon Ryan said the current bureaucracy could not handle the workload “and it takes too long to get things done”.
“It takes us about 10 years to get a bus lane, and it takes us 20 years to get a rail line built,” Mr Ryan (pictured) said.
“If we could shorten some of those timelines and make sure that our planning and legal system doesn’t require so many hurdles, then we could get a better return without having to increase the numbers everywhere — but we do need a larger Public Service.”
There are currently around 350,000 workers in the wider public sector.
Mr Ryan said the recent Census had shown a six per cent increase in the population and there should be a “commensurate increase” in the public sector to ensure that services were made available in a timely and efficient manner to the people who required them.
He did not say how the additional jobs would be funded.
Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), Micheál Martin said the public sector had been increasing in recent times, particularly in the health sector, and cited the issue of sustainability against possible future shocks, since any addition to the State payroll built in a continuing cost.
“Numbers have been growing, but it’s about value for money, as well as getting the people, because we’re below four per cent unemployment,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Ryan agreed there had been an increase in healthcare workers “but you also need increases in Government Departments, and in Local Government, to build up the resources to deliver what the people this country want, which is housing, a good effective Health Service, and an economy that is secure for the future”.
Dublin, 16 June 2023
