Two of the worst economic decisions taken by Irish governments in the past decade were decentralisation of the public service, and the benchmarking of public service pay to private pay norms. Both policy initiatives failed, with damaging consequences. Decentralisation, which was announced in the 2003 budget, was adopted in haste, and introduced without proper analysis of its financial cost, or adequate assessment of the likely benefit to the public. The government (Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats) in deciding where to relocate departments ignored its own national planning framework, and disregarded the need for regional balance. For those affected, relocation – which was voluntary – was to places that many did not wish to go. And few public servants relocated.

Fortunately, there are signs that lessons have been learned from past policy failures. One encouraging development is the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES). This was first promised in the programme for government, and established last week. The new service, which operates in part as a Government website, is designed to “support better policymaking across the system, through enhanced economic and policy analysis expertise”.

Papers written by public servants, but which do not necessarily represent the policy positions of the relevant departments, Ministers or the Government, may now be published online. This represents a major change of attitude by the public service, and marks further progress in the programme of public sector reform. It should ensure better analysis of economic decisions by policymakers, and also keep the public better informed about the policy choices facing politicians, and the decisions they take. Ireland has been slow to introduce government economic services to departments. If IGEES were in place sooner, a decade ago, decentralisation and benchmarking – two costly errors of judgment – might well have been avoided.