There will be a significant shake-up of the operations of some government departments under the new deal between Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael and Independents. A dedicated infrastructure division – to streamline the delivery of large-scale projects – will be established in a renamed Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
This follows recommendations made in 2017 by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), which advises the government on policy, and a “public investment management assessment” (Pima) carried out by the International Monetary Fund.
Proposals by Fine Gael for the stand-alone Department of Infrastructure will not go ahead. But the government is to establish a new Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. It will also transfer responsibility for trade policy and negotiation to the Department of Foreign Affairs. There are likely to be other changes involving the Department of Environment.
The return of trade responsibilities to the Department of Foreign Affairs repeats the approach adopted when Labour’s Eamon Gilmore became tánaiste in 2011. One battle-hardened observer of that arrangement described it as a gimmick and nameplate operation. There was no hard trade expertise in foreign affairs, this person said, noting how trade law, trade protection policy and the EU common commercial policy remained with the Department of Enterprise last time.
Legislation allowing for the Taoiseach to transfer responsibilities and functions between departments goes back to 1939. There is even a guide book in the Civil Service as to how such changes should be put in place.
But some experienced figures in public administration say that speculation about potential restructuring and formal announcements of reforms can generate uncertainty and, in some instances, unhappiness among some staff at the prospect of moving.
The main rule in the Civil Service is that staff working in a particular area on the day of an announcement of reorganisation should move with the functions to be transferred. Some with knowledge of such arrangements suggest, perhaps tongue in cheek, that this provision was aimed at preventing heads of departments seeking to hold on to experienced or high calibre personnel or indeed orchestrating the departure of others.
Another rule in the Civil Service is that “finances follow the functions” that are to be moved elsewhere. Support services working in departments with units earmarked for transfer can also be moved.
In addition a government decision to merge one part of a particular department with another can have knock-on consequences. Agencies or even regulators that work with that particular unit will have a new parent department.
Some with long experience in Irish public administration say that reorganisation of services can lead to disruption and unhappiness among some staff who may be comfortable in their existing locations and have fears about moving to new buildings with changed commuting arrangements.
On the other hand the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants said on Wednesday its members were used to moving departments when required, including after a change of government. “While there may be some initial queries from members on moving it doesn’t present a significant issue for our members.”
Former Labour Party minister Brendan Howlin oversaw one of the largest restructuring in the history of the Civil Service with the establishment of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform from the Department of Finance.
He told The Irish Times that for the most part at the heart of government departments was a core or shell and that functions and responsibilities could be added or taken away. However, he said there could be resistance from units or areas which had previously had greater autonomy in their operations being brought into a line department under a Minister.
Mr Howlin said breaking up the Department of Finance had been more complex. He said there were about 200 pieces of legislation going back decades in some cases which had to be examined to facilitate this reorganisation. He said for some months he, as Minister for Public Expenditure, and Michael Noonan, as Minister for Finance, had jointly signed statutory instruments to avoid the possibility of any legal challenged to their legality.
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