Again this is because of different definitions of Government employment.
He pulls from the OECD for outside of Ireland, he pulls from a different source here. The OECD has a different definition which means like for like it’s 20% (above the OECD average).
The above screenshots take different definitions of employment into account.
The core point of the article is correct but I’m sure professional gobshite Sindo columnists like Eoin O’Malley who howl for a new right wing party disagree.
Sure the Irish state has hawked off every service and resource to billionaires and conglomerates who in turn gouge citizens for basic services. These billionaires then in turn make grotesque profits and are given sweetheart tax deals by the govt.
That’s the free market economy that makes everyone much worse off bar the super rich. That’s the society those obsessed with neo-liberal/neo-con politics want.
The article barely engages with productivity or the extraordinary expansion of management grades.
Civil Service staffing increased by approximately 45 per cent between 2015 and 2024. By September 2025, it contained 6,958 Assistant Principals, 2,068 Principal Officers and 7,308 HEOs.
That is almost 7,000 Assistant Principals in a Civil Service of roughly 50,000–55,000 people, approximately one AP for every seven or eight employees, before the other managerial grades are counted.
Ireland needs more engineers, planners, specialists and frontline personnel, but that is entirely different from continually creating additional senior management, coordination and governance positions.
Before declaring that the State is “too small,” we should be shown what measurable additional output the enormous growth in staffing and senior grades has actually delivered. On that central question, the article provides almost no evidence.
So you admit the state needs to be bigger.
No they do not. He picks one definition for OECD and simply ignores the like for like definition of employment in favour of one that suits him.
It is pretty disgraceful from an academic tbh but is par for the course unfortunately.
Once Ireland gets to a similar age as those few counties ahead of us, we’ll have similar numbers of government employees (although hopefully A.I. and robotics may impact that).
Ireland definitely needs more planners. We had a shortage for ACP and rather than put it on the critical skills list, we left it hanging out for too long. There’s an element of good lobbying helping with this stuff. Engineers, planners etc are not very good at it. The language colleges pretending as though they are as important as the aircraft leasing sector are very good at it.
Its perfectly obvious what I said. You can draw your own conclusions as is your want.
Yes. This is a statement that the state needs to be bigger.
Once again.
Here is Ireland sits on the OECD measure from where he calls the oversees stats, over 20%.
This shouldn’t have made it past the Business Posts editors but they long ago threw away standards.
An example of waste is on contractors and consultancy firms being brought in to do work on IT projects. Due to public sector salary scales, many would not work in the public sector on a full time basis as they would not be able to get a salary that they would in the private sector or as a contractor.
In the Semi State, if you want to hire a software developer, for example, then they might be put in at a middle management/co-ordinator pay scale despite not having any managerial tasks to do.
You are then left in a loop where consultancy firms or sole contractors underestimate project tasks to get the foot in the door and then are there for years for fairly mundane system upgrades.
Nobody wants to make a decision in the public sector and why would you when every type of politician wants their social media clip at a PAC.
It’s also the same in the semi state sector.
Mrs J works pretty hard i think mate*. Seems to have a lot on her plate and theres never any shortage of work. I’d sometimes feel bad about it when im off for a swim or to play golf or the likes.
Would you consider joining the civil service if you think it’s grossly overpaid, a piece of piss and people get away with murder?
I have no argument whatsoever with recruiting and training people in the areas where the country clearly lacks skills.
Back to my old lament. We need more engineers, planners and medical professionals.
We should also have expanded the national apprenticeship system for plumbers, electricians, carpenters and the other skilled trades years ago.
It is disgraceful that we allowed such obvious shortages to develop and are only now beginning to address them.
These are the people required to build houses, hospitals, infrastructure and everything else the State claims it wants to deliver.
What I question is the relentless creation of senior management and general administrative positions.
Far too many of these jobs appear to consist mainly of passing information from one level to another, little more than intermediaries, producing additional meetings, reports and layers of approval without much measurable output. I simply do not believe the enormous increase in these positions is justified.
AI makes that expansion even harder to defend. A great deal of routine administration, information gathering, report preparation and coordination can be automated, and that capability will develop rapidly.
The State should be planning for fewer layers of general administration while focusing resources on skilled tradespeople, engineers, planners, medical professionals and others who provide genuine expertise and tangible services.
Are we investing in the skills the country actually needs, rather than continually creating more layers of management.?
Work smarter thats the thing
It’s all deliberate. They all rely on each others existence. It’s me and you who pay for the performative shite and the clean ups that come after
I’ll be looking for one of those assistant/vice principal roles in a few years, I reckon. Tell her to keep an ear out for me.
