Smaller, Smarter Government

We need a smaller government that is effective and fair. Talented people in our public service are trapped in a system that fails them. We must break up the rigid structures and harness that talent. It is those who depend on public services who are the victims of waste.

• Revolutionise the way money is spent:
- Link money to results
- Stamp out waste
- Reward success

• More voice and more choice:
- Reveal waiting times and performance
- Let the client shape and choose the services
- Create a One Stop Shop for entitlements

• Protect frontline services:
- Streamline administration and quangos
- Develop new ways of working
- Equip local services to respond

We will create an engine of change and bring in new blood and new skills into top management to reinvent government in Ireland.

For more information please visit: http://connect.finegael2011.com/forum/topics/smaller-better-government

Fix the Public Finances

We must cut our cloth to what taxpayers can afford. Piling on more and more new taxes won’t work. By cutting waste and inefficiency we can protect frontline services.

• Focus on world-class efficiency in spending so income taxes don’t rise.
• Streamline administration – eliminate and streamline up to 145 agencies, starting with the HSE.
• Spread the burden fairly, hitting the big and the powerful, not just the ordinary person.

Every million we save in greater efficiencies means we reduce the threat to frontline entitlements.

Speech by Fine Gael Jobs Spokesman Richard Bruton TD to the NYCI Youth Employment Conference in Croke Park

‘We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them’ – Albert Einstein.

There is a great deal of talk in the media about the obligation on the Opposition to engage constructively in the formation of a Budgetary strategy for the next four years. This is a central duty of parliament. That it should be regarded as a novel proposal just illustrates the extraordinary dysfunctional system of Budget formation that exists in Ireland. Even though the approval of a Budget should be a central role of parliament, the Irish system allows: Read the full story