Irish Civil Service Essay

2 (b) Discuss the role and development of the Irish Civil Service
The fundamental principles of the Irish Civil Service have altered very little from the when the civil service was reformed back in the 1800s. Prior to 1922 Ireland was governed by the United Kingdom (UK). At the height of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, two UK parliamentary members Northcote and Trevelyan were commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to conduct a study on the civil service. They reported their findings to government officials. As detailed in course notes, the report’s conclusions were; that civil service should be recruited through open competitive examination and that the examination board should be independent and promotion through

The focus of this report was to make the public service citizen centred and performance focussed.

As highlighted by the civil service renewal plan, of October 2014, the purpose of the civil service is to provide public services to the people of Ireland effectively and efficiently. It is important to keep public services up to date, the changing economy, political structures, environmental factors, the constantly changing technology are challenges for the civil service when trying to keep up to date with the changing needs of its customers/service users/public.

As outlined on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform website, the purpose of The Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Awards is to recognise outstanding achievement in various areas of the civil service, areas such as policy implementation and service delivery. This was honouring the commitment from Action 13 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan, to publicly recognise staff excellence and innovation. This not only works as an incentive for civil servants to strive to become better at serving the public with the chance of achieving an award, but also publicly documents for the public the work that goes often