THE Irish public service has grown by almost 75,000 or 30% in the last eight years, according to figures released last week by the Department of Finance.

They reveal that if Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, goes ahead with his plans for a voluntary redundancy scheme in order to shed 5,000 officials, it will only bring public-service numbers back to 2007 levels.

Lenihan told the Dail last week there are now 321,000 public servants, up from 316,800 last year and 247,300 in 2000. The fastest growing sectors are health and education, while the only part of the public service in decline is defence.

There are now almost 39,000 civil servants, an increase of more than 5,000 or 15%, since 2000. Their ranks swelled by 400 last year. Among the fastest growing departments are justice, up from 2,873 to 5,403 in the last eight years, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is up from 1,086 to 1,643.

Joan Burton, Labour’s finance spokesman, said: “Although the government promised to keep control of public sector numbers, these figures show that in the run-up to the 2007 general election, Brian Cowen threw caution to the wind. He won the election and he must feel vindicated.

“But the public-sector employment increases seem to have been concentrated in administrative areas. The challenge to government now is to try to cut the administrative over-hang while protecting frontline services.”

There are now 113,140 public servants working in health, 93,940 in education, 35,526 in local authorities and 15,414 in justice.

Last July, Lenihan reduced by 3% the payroll bill for all government departments, stage agencies and councils apart from the health and education areas. The savings are expected to be €10m this year and a further €250m by the end of 2009.

Staff recruitment has been curtailed or suspended, and there is no control over premium pay and the organisation of work processes. “The appropriate mix of measures to be used in each department or in the bodies under their aegis will vary,” Lenihan said last week.

Meanwhile, just half of the government’s Value For Money Reviews (VFMs) have been completed after 28 months, with 24 overdue. No department has identified any savings from the scheme. Some reviews have even resulted in an increase in spending, with a VFM of energy conservation resulting in additional spending of €57m.

Most departments have increased their spending on VFMs this year, many by more than 100%.

The reviews were launched by Brian Cowen in June 2006 when he was minister for finance, in order to find efficiencies in the public service. Of the 92 reviews established, most were due for completion by the end of last year, but only 46 are now finished and eight haven’t even started.

The office of the taoiseach is one of the furthest behind schedule, with one review now 24 months overdue. The department of arts, sports, and tourism has completed just one of its six reviews, with one not yet commenced. The money it has allocated to the reviews has gone up by 311%.

The Department of Education had one of the highest spends on VFMs, with €1.4m allocated this year. Six of its 12 reviews have been completed, three are overdue and two have not yet started.

A spokesman for the department said that no savings had yet been identified from the six completed reviews, but that the recommendations could “result in better delivery of services for the same resources”.

The department of social and family affairs has been among the most successful in carrying out the reviews, with five of seven completed at a cost of €400,000. None of these have yet resulted in any savings.

Paschal Donohoe, a Fine Gael senator, said the reviews represented an unforgivable waste of money. “They were meant to be Cowen’s great way of reducing unnecessary spending in the public service,” he said. “Instead, nothing has been saved, and the reviews have just cost the taxpayer money.”

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