Calls for significant cuts to the NI public sector workforce risks “scapegoating” NICS

The FDA’s National Officer for Northern Ireland Robert Murtagh has pushed back against calls for significant cuts to the public sector workforce in Northern Ireland.

The proposals were outlined in an article from Irish News columnist Newton Emerson, calling for the reduction of Northern Ireland’s public sector workforce in line with levels in Wales and Scotland.

Speaking on Stephen Nolan’s BBC Radio Ulster programme, Murtagh said:

“Transformation is already ongoing in the civil service and I think part of the challenge here is that every time we hear these stories about the civil service, there is this sort of idea that… there’s loads of civil servants sitting around doing nothing, twiddling their thumbs, and that if we cut the civil service, everything will be okay. And that creates a real issue of morale for civil servants who are doing their best to try and deliver public services for the people of Northern Ireland. And I think we do need to be careful going into this… scapegoating the civil service as if the civil service is the cause of every problem in Northern Ireland today.

“The structure of our system is not something that the civil service does. The civil service is reflective of the political realities. And if politicians want to change that, if they want to prioritise, they can absolutely do that. But we would have to see what the detail is to make sure that they can’t just cut X from here and hope that the same level of service will be delivered.”

Murtagh continued:

“Our system of government, the four-party mandatory coalition… is very different from Scotland and Wales, the structure is very different. We have ten departments that act independently of each other… The structure is an absolutely relevant point, and it’s not as simple as simple saying, ‘Let’s just cut 10% of the public sector and everything will be rosy.’”