What do you think of the civil service?

livia

Whats your experience with the civil service,ie,HSE,SW,Tax ect.Ie, did your medical card review form ever arrive, were you struck off the list because it didnt? Did counter staff at SW,Tax offices treat you in a mannerly way? Do's red tape hit the most vulnerable? ( see http//www.irishmedicalnews.ie/articles.asp?Category=news&ArticleID=18810
whatever your experience of the civil service,good and bad, you can log on to
www.bettergov.ie and voice your thoughts.You can do so anonymously if you wish.

Dublin's Finest

Are you involved with this? I merely ask out of curiosity.
I can imagine it will provide some interesting results.

Colonel Sanders

ordered a provisional licence 3 weeks ago, was told it would take a week. Still waiting.

Lost my blood donor card a few yrs ago. Was told that it normally takes 6-8 weeks to reissue (ffs!!) but a new computer system was in operation and new cards had been issued for a few months. 18 months later I recieved my new card.

I could go on but.....

On the other hand I do know civil servants who work very hard and I don't blame the indidents above on any one civil servant.

I think a perfermance based bonus/renueration system should be introduced to reward the hard workers and penalise the slackers (including those who pull the strings in the event that they make incompetant decisions). None of the above will ever happen

NewDubliner

Large performance-based bonuses are paid to senior management.

But spare a thought for the IT specialists. They've been told that if they work really hard they'll be guaranteed a one-way-ticket out of Dublin, whether they want one or not.

mikemac

Many departments don't answer the phone in the afternoons.
Still waiting for my credit card size driving licence and my free Rules of the Road.

The only time I was ever unemployed after 5 years working and paying tax, it took 9 weeks to get any dole money. Who here can afford to go without any income for 9 weeks? Worst period of my life.
Every years in college it took 3-4 months for my college grant to come through. Now that's inefficency.

Sent all my rent relief forms and tax reclaim (medical & college fee)to the Revenue office and they lost all of them. Took me over an hour to complete all them:mad:

Rant over

I will say the Revenue Commissioners are very good at their job as are Customs. So fair play to that department but I've no positive stories about other departments

livia

have no association with bettergov.ie however, have been on the receiving end of of the civil service , both very bad and quite good, depending on what department, I'd say if there was a poll on which were the worst and best there would be general agreement.I hope this site actually means something, not just another talking shop.

Victor

micmclo wrote:

Still waiting for ....my free Rules of the Road.

That is an initiative by the insurers. If you are that desparate for a copy go spend 4 euro in your local book shop or download it from www.rsa.ie

Mick86

It took 10 months for a local authority to approve my selling a house I had bought from them twenty years ago. I filled out an aplication form for the approval and they spent months writing letters to my solicitor repeating the questions.

Jackie laughlin

My experience is that if you can get to talk to someone in particular or even to e-mail someone in particular, then service is excellent. However, there is an increasingly frustrating battle to get past the "welcoming" technology both on the phone and on the net.

pork99

It will never improve

Private sector accountability = "You're a persistent f**k up. You're fired - you have 15 minutes to clear your desk"

Public sector accountability = "You're a persistent f**k up. Here's a pay rise - please try to stay awake after lunch"