REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON HER VISIT TO THE OFFICE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE AND LOCAL APPOINTMENTS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON HER VISIT TO THE OFFICE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE AND LOCAL APPOINTMENTS COMMISSIONERS
A Dhaoine Uaisle, tá lúcháir mhór orm bheith anseo libh tráthnóna ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle buíochas libh as bhur gcaoin-chuireadh.
I am very pleased to have this opportunity to visit Chapter House today as you celebrate 75 years of the Local Appointments Commission. My thanks to you all for your very warm welcome and a special word of thanks to your CEO, Bryan Andrews for the kind invitation. I don’t imagine the name Local Appointments Commission is ever going to be the title of a Bond movie but in many ways it deserves to be, for here you will find stories of heroism, of unparalleled service to country, of turning chaos into order, of putting justice, merit and fairness at the heart of a system once a slave to croneyism. We might never have the film but at least we now have the book!
“Selection on Merit – Celebrating 75 years of the Local Appointments Commission” tells the story of the transformation from a rather muddled system of Local Government to the democratic and ordered system that exists today. The book vividly describes how and why the Local Appointments Commission was set up and how it overcame strong resistance from many quarters to become one of the most respected recruitment institutions in the Ireland of today. Arthur Griffith articulated a view of appointments to Poor Law Boards and Urban Councils prior to the establishment of the Local Appointments Commission and which is referred to in this publication, when he said in 1905 “ their appointment is determined in the majority of cases more by the amount of personal influence they can wield with the members of the Board under which they seek appointment than by any other consideration. The question of efficiency is often, though not always, a secondary consideration.” Suffice to say that the Local Appointment Commissioners had their work cut out for them when the first appointments were made in 1926!
Recruitment of the best people is one crucial key to an effective and dynamic public service. In Ireland we have a proud tradition that all Civil Service and Senior Public Service positions are filled by independent Commissioners in a system that is protected from corruption and influence. Fidelity to that hard earned tradition, year in and year out, is the reason why it is widely acknowledged that we have one of the most successful and transparent public sector recruitment systems in the world. That we have this reputation and that it has endured is a credit to the Commissioners both past and present and to the commitment of the staff of the Office down through the years.
It was not always so and the memory of a system which was careless to the point of contempt of the broad mass of our people was seventy-five years ago a powerful driver of the value system at the heart of this commission. A little over a hundred years ago, policy decisions were made in London and administered locally in a not too democratic fashion by officials who, in the main, enjoyed the patronage of wealthy landowners whose interests prevailed over the interests of the ordinary citizen. The Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, which led to the first democratically elected councils, did not bring about a perfect system and there seems little doubt but that corrupt practices were commonplace.
It was against such a background of favour and influence that the Local Appointments Commission was set up in 1926 to fill senior level appointments in local authorities. The arrival of the Commission curbed the discretion of elected officials in influencing appointments. It ensured that appointments were advertised openly and that eligible applicants could compete for positions without fear or favour in an objective and fair assessment process. It heralded a new era of equality of opportunity, an era in which the best talents would be harnessed and put at the service of the nation. Many generations later we have been the beneficiaries of the many gifts and talents, which that new meritocracy produced.
There is no end to this labour, for each administration must provide an imaginative and proactive public service that is focussed on helping our people, and through them, our country to tackle confidently the intricate web of the economic and social challenges which confronts each generation. I grew up in another part of this island where the words discrimination and second-class skewed the past, present and future of many able people. We all grew up in a culture, which placed strict taboos on the extent to which the genius of women was allowed to express itself. And it is not so very long ago that disability drew down an iron curtain of employment disadvantage.
Those days are changing and quickly, and I commend particularly the proactive role played by the Office of the Commissioners in advancing equality and diversity across the public service through equality monitoring, the elimination of discrimination in the selection process, and comprehensive training in objective assessment and equality provided to assessors and interviewers. These are not just critically important mechanisms in promoting a culture of equality in the public service because your work is a crucial form of national leadership, an uncompromising statement of where our best interests lie and where the future lies. As Seamus Heaney says in his poem from the Canton of Expectation
“What looks the strongest has outlived its term.
The future lies with what’s affirmed from under…”
You have helped Ireland empower and release that natural talent base that lay undiscovered and at times unsure of itself. With your help it found its feet, proved itself and filled a new well of national pride and self-confidence to say nothing of creating a story of extraordinary success beyond our wildest dreams.
Your beautiful new Corporate Headquarters, Chapter House is itself a striking symbol of that modern successful Ireland and a bold statement of the ethic of first class public service, which is the leitmotif of the Commission. These surroundings are themselves a very eloquent testimony to the distance we have travelled since the establishment of the Local Appointments Commission. That seventy five year journey has involved many champions, some well known, others who might have been forgotten were it not for this publication. Each is entitled to the gratitude of the Irish people and especially those of us privileged to live through these times when this wealthy, respected and influential Ireland is seen as a role model and source of hope for small, struggling, poor countries.
I congratulate An Ceann Comhairle, Dr. Rory O’Hanlon T.D., the Commissioners, the Chief Executive, Mr. Bryan Andrews and all the staff of the Office, past and present, on the great work you have done. A special word of thanks is due to Mr. Joe Boyle, former Secretary of the Office of the Commissioners, who I understand, is largely responsible for putting the material for this publication together. I pinched a proverb I heard from one of Bishop Martin Drennan’s sermons - it suits the day - “Those who drink the water should remember with gratitude those who dug the well”- and today we do just that.
I thank each of you for allowing me to be part of this exceptional life story and I wish you every success in the future.
Go raibh maith agaibh.