Forget those stereotypes of grey, faceless, pen-pushers who never see the light of day. Today's civil servant is busy, mobile and confident. The new kids on the block are encouraged to show initiative, ambition, creativity and responsibility.

Roger Harrington loves his job. "There's a lot of responsibility," he says. In his last job with the anti-fraud unit of the Revenue Commissioners in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, he was deciding whether people were prosecuted or not. Some of those cases can be quite significant

"It's no longer a nine-to-five job. I choose my own attendance patterns" - slipping briefly into mandarin-speak - "I think the service is as vibrant and dynamic as any organisation and the realness of our work is so clear when you read the paper. We're working on issues of national significance." He lists Dublin's Light Rail System, President Clinton's recent electronic trade agreement at Gateway and even the price of stamps.

To date the opportunities have come "thick and fast." Five years ago he got a letter "out of the blue" offering a position in the civil service, having done the entrance exam. His first job was in the personnel branch of the Revenue Commissioners in Dublin, where he stayed for about four years. "I was in a number of different areas - the sick-leave section, the research section and the staff relations unit."

The Revenue Commission is a huge organisation, he says. "It employs 6,100 people, who are countrywide."

Then an opportunity came up. "As one door closed another opened and I went to work in the Collector General's office in Limerick. You get your bag and off you go."

In Limerick he was assigned to the Sheriff's Office, which is "tasked with" seizing goods. "Many different methods of collection are used," he says. "There's voluntary compliance, where you come in voluntarily and you pay your money. In certain cases that doesn't happen. Using the Sheriff's Office is one way in which you can get money in.

"I'd have to check a customer's record and see was the liability owed. You'd give the Sheriff clearance to seize. It's a desk-bound job, but you'd be in liaison with individuals, solicitors, accountants . . . I was there six months before I began my travels again."

Harrington was promoted to executive officer. "I did the interview in January 1995 and I was assigned in April." He moved on to the Customs and Excise anti-fraud unit in Nenagh.

As a commercial smuggling case officer, he had to make decisions on how cases should be handled - through prosecution, retention of goods or by compromise payment. "I was also in charge of statistics for that unit," he adds.

After two-and-a-half years, Harrington went for another job in a different department. Following this promotion, he moved back to his native city as an executive officer in the Department of Public Enterprise. He is based at the postal and communications liberalisation division.

"I was anxious to get back to Dublin. I'd been in the Revenue Commissioners for eight years. I'd seen a lot of it and it was very good experience, but I felt there was more to see and more to do.

"Here it's more a policymaking department. I wanted to get that experience. Also the Revenue Commission does not have a minister, whereas this department does."

Down the years, he says, he has worked with some very good people. "They nurtured my ability, gave me good work and facilitated my ambition. It's not just a case that you come in and sit there.

"When you go in people will look at what you're doing, you'll get feedback and be pointed in the right direction. The civil service is as good as any place to go. The opportunities are there." Initiative is rewarded, he says. "We're no longer tucked away in a big, grey building." So, what makes a happy civil servant? "Well, for a start you need to be able to work in a team. You need good communication skills. And initiative and creativity are very important - and, of course hard work."

Harrington sees "many highly talented people about in the civil service who are just not looking out for themselves. It can be really a very vibrant place - and the public perception of the service is changing, particularly over the past 10 years."

For him, it's been a constantly changing environment. He has had six jobs in eight years. "I think I could say that no two days are the same." He was recently promoted to higher executive officer level and he awaits his next assignment.