Table of contents
The most up to date Renewal Plan is Civil Service Renewal 2030, and you can access it here.
On the 30th October 2014 an Taoiseach Mr. Enda Kenny, T.D., and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Mr. Brendan Howlin, T.D., published The Civil Service Renewal Plan (Plean Athnuachana don Státseirbhís) marking an exciting new chapter for the Civil Service in Ireland.
The Civil Service Renewal Plan is available to view or download here
Four main themes were identified for the Civil Service to improve the service that we provide to the State and the people of Ireland.
The Civil Service is committed to becoming:
A list of Frequently Asked Questions from the launch of the Plan can be found here.
The Civil Service Renewal Plan was to be delivered over three years, from 2014-2017 – an ambitious and challenging timeline.
Phase 1
The first phase (“the first 200 days”) of the Plan was committed to delivering on the following actions:
- Establish an Accountability Board for the Civil Service
- Establish a Civil Service Management Board
- Establish the first performance review process for Sectaries General
- Identify available options to strengthen the disciplinary code
- Commence open recruitment in key area to fill skill gaps
- Carry-out the first Civil Service-wide staff engagement survey
An overview of the progress made in Phase 1 of the Renewal Plan can be found here.
Phase 2
The challenge for Phase 2 of the Plan was to translate this progress into tangible impact. 7 actions were prioritised for this phase of implementation:
- Implement a common governance standard for the Civil Service (Action 3)
- Strengthen performance management for all civil servants (Action 11)
- New performance review process for Secretaries General and an enhanced review process for Assistant Secretaries (Action 12)
- Recognise staff excellence and innovation (Action 13)
- Expand career and mobility opportunities for staff (Action 15)
- Implement a programme of organisational capability reviews (Action 20)
- Improve internal Civil Service communications (Action 23)
In addition to driving the priority actions, the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) has also made significant progress on other actions. All 25 actions in the Renewal Plan have been initiated.
An overview of the progress achieved in Phase 2 can be found here.
Phase 3
The Second Progress Report on the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal Plan was published in July of 2017, and showed that very good progress is being made in implementing the ambitious programme of reform. The priorities for Phase 3 of implementation are:
- Improve the delivery of shared whole-of-Government projects (Action 5)
- Significantly develop Strategic HR capability (Action 7)
- Establish a new shared model for delivering learning and development (Action 9)
- Introduce structured and transparent talent management programmes to develop future leaders (Action 10)
- Improve project management capacity (Action 17)
- Strengthen policy-making skills and develop more open approaches to policy-making (Action 22)
An update on the progress of Phase 3 is available here.
In 2013 a Civil Service Taskforce began a collaborative process to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Civil Service. In parallel, the Independent Panel on Strengthening Civil Service Accountability and Performance led a public consultation process on accountability and performance.
The aim was to determine what we need to do to increase our capacity and capability to meet the future demands that will face us as a country.
How The Renewal Plan was developed
The Taskforce was made up of Civil Servants from every Department working with Secretaries General and staff across the Civil Service to develop a shared, practical and motivating vision for the future of the Civil Service. The Renewal Plan outlines 25 specific actions to achieve this vision.
Conversations and Town Hall meetings were held with staff and multiple external and international stakeholders, both online and face-to-face in offices around the country. Many of the ideas that are reflected in the programme for Renewal were submitted from the more than 2000 people who participated in the process.
The CSO conducted a detailed analysis of the results of the consultation process which you can read here and full details of the evidence base used to inform the plan are also available here.
In 2013, the Government established two separate but related streams of work to reflect on the role, purpose and performance of the Civil Service:
The work of the Independent Panel on Strengthening Civil Service Accountability and Performance. The work of the Civil Service Renewal Taskforce, composed of civil servants from all Departments nominated to lead a process to renew the vision and strategy for the civil service.
As part of a year-long engagement process, more than 2,000 staff and stakeholders engaged with the Renewal programme, including:
- All Government Ministers
- Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas
- All Management Boards
- All Secretaries General
- Every Department
- Multiple external and international perspectives
The purpose of this deliberative process was to understand, from a range of perspectives, what the civil service does well and where it needs to do better. Several major themes emerged during the process:
Areas recognised as strengths:
- The ethos of public service
- The values of honesty and independence
- The quality and objectivity of policy advice
- The efficient administration of large volume public services
- The capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to crises
- The implementation of high-profile programmes (for example, hosting the EU Presidency)The ability to adapt to changing circumstances and priorities
Areas identified for improvement included the need to:
- Improve the pace of delivery
- Collaborate, coordinate and join-up Government more effectively
- Focus on solutions not structures
- Manage performance consistently and tackle underperformance
- Actively communicate what the Civil Service does
- Create better opportunities for staff to develop
- Match skills and roles more effectively
- Invest in staff through training and technology
- Increase flexibility and mobility into and out of the Civil Service.
More than 1,500 specific ideas to make the Civil Service more effective were submitted by staff. These submissions have been analysed in full by the Central Statistics Office and are collated in a detailed report.
Over the same period, more than 40 submissions were received during the public consultation process on civil service accountability and performance.
