Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has called for as many as 30,000 new public sector jobs, representing a massive expansion of the State.
The remarks were made on Monday during theNational Economic Dialogue in Dublin Castle.
“We do need a larger public service,” said Ryan.
“We’ve had an increase in the private sector of people working, but not the commensurate increase in the scale of the public sector really at all.”
He said that while there had been an increase in healthcare staffing, there needed to be an increase in government department staff.
“Yes, we’ve had increases in the public healthcare sector as the Taoiseach has said,” Ryan commented.
“But you also need in government departments, and in local government, to my mind, to build up the resources to deliver what the people this country want – which is housing, a good effective health service, and an economy that is secure for the future.
“So I’m for that. You do need public servants, you need civil servants, you need local government engineers, you need it across every section, which I see in my area.”
He added: “We do need to increase the public service. And we need to do it in a way that doesn’t stoke inflation, and that doesn’t see everyone chasing after a limited workforce. So it’s not easy. But that is what we do need to do. The Public Service does need to increase in size.”
Ryan said that this would allow state projects to be completed quicker.
“One of the issues is, how long does it take to do things?” he said.
“If we can improve our systems and quicken things up, then you don’t need as many public servants. But it takes us about 10 years to get a bus lane – and it takes us 20 years to get a rail line built.
“If we could shorten some of those timelines and make sure that our planning and legal system doesn’t require so many hurdles, whereby you have this huge staff tied up, then we can get a better return without having to increase the numbers everywhere.”
At the same event, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that “The State has grown, and grown significantly,” adding that “the State is the biggest investor in housing.”
“I share the view that the public service will have to continue to grow,” said Martin.
“But we have to sustain revenues to enable us to do that. We favour, and we have, a progressive tax system at the moment.”
At the end of April, Ryan also said that the Irish state needs to be “bigger” and that significantly more civil servants should be hired for the sake of growing the economy.
"The State needs to be bigger": Eamon Ryan says that Ireland needs thousands more civil servants for the economy to grow.#gripthttps://t.co/n7bhJc92m9
— gript (@griptmedia) April 27, 2023
“What the employers and the unions are saying, in unison, is that the State needs to be bigger,” said Ryan.
“The success of our country and the economy, which has seen a massive almost one million additional people in the workforce, has not been matched by a similar extension in the public service.”