The OECD, the Paris-based think-tank for 30 mainly developed countries including Ireland, said today that rising public debt burdens will force governments to improve efficiency. In Ireland, the OECD reported on the public service in April 2008 and their proposals are still being chewed over. Why expect anyone to rush themselves?

A new report highlights best practices and identifies where and how national administrations can provide improved services at lower cost to the public.

As for Ireland, change will continue to come very, very slowly, if at all.

Vested interests have significant power whether they are in the public or private sectors.

Last week, the Taoiseach announced that the Government would appoint a CIO who would report to him and have responsibility for all IT projects in the public sector.

Seems like a good idea but wonder why something so obvious would take so long and exactly 4 years after Cowen himself was involved in signing off on new rules on major public projects - - only after a public outcry on huge cost overruns on road and public IT projects.

There has been a litany of waste and while a US website for providing public information on federal contracts can cost $1m, $50m is spent in Ireland on a public services portal and it’s just junked.

Science Foundation Ireland, responsible for innovation, spends €400K on an IT system and it’s just junked.

In Oct 2005, Finfacts commented: “The penny has at last dropped for the computer illiterate Government Ministers, senior bureaucrats and political advisers who have been paid well, to ask the questions that a business person would be expected to, when signing off on major expenditures….Instead of putting party flunkeys on the public payroll, has there been anyone in government with the savvy to propose a CIO - Chief Information Officer - with key experience in world class IT organisations and successful project implementation experience? A similar function with responsibility for major infrastructure projects would surely have also been merited.”

With a system of limited accountability where the buck appears to stops nowhere, what should be expected?

• Jan 2007: Bertie Ahern requests the OECD to review the Irish public service.
• Apr 2008: OECD reports, Ahern says of the 800 State agencies/quangos, there are“too many by half.”
• Oct 2008: Justice minister cuts Equality Authority budget by 43%; Most other State quangos subject to single-digit cuts
• Oct 2009: Taskforce still reviewing the report

This slow-motion progress does not change, even after a crash of the economy.

"Governments can learn from each other’s experience in order to provide the most cost-efficient services possible for their citizens”, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said today.

In their response to the crisis, many governments have been forced to increase spending to levels which may prove unsustainable, posing an urgent need for rationalisation. However, governments will need to balance rationalisation strategies against the need to underpin a still fragile process of economic recovery.

The report “Government at a Glance” offers for the first time a comparative analysis of the government “machinery”, financing arrangements and public management policies and practices, in order to signpost opportunities for reform. The report also notes that an ageing public sector workforce in most OECD countries provides challenges, but also potential for renewal.

The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.