I’m fed up of turning on the TV to hear some right-wing economist rabidly spouting about how the civil service needs to be reduced.

Which elements are they talking about and why?

The population of this country has grown by about 30% in the past 10 years, but the public service has grown by about 7%.  Sure, computerisation has had an effect, but otherwise, we have one of the smallest (as judged on a per capita basis) civil services in Europe.

Taking a look at my own sector- 3rd level education.  We have on one hand everybody saying that we need a vibrant and productive 3rd level sector that provides top quality education.  However, we seem to want to pay peanuts for this.

Let’s compare NUI Maynooth (which doesn’t rank among the top universities of the world) with Imperial College London, which is ranked about number 6.  I teach on an MSc course that is part-delivered by Imperial in London, so, I am talking about two universities in which I operate to some extent.

Maynooth has about 4,500 undergrad students and  1,200 post-grad students.

Imperial has about 8,000 undergrads and about 4,400 post-grads.

So, Imperial has about 2X undergrads and about 4X post-grads (give or take).

Maynooth has 275 academic staff, Imperial has 3,001 (10X, give or take).

How do you provide 1st-world services with third-world investment?  I should also point out that NUI Maynooth has the highest level of research income for any third level institution in Ireland, has research afiliations with 50 companies and this year has been ranked by The Sunday Times to be the number one university in the country, so we are not an unproductive place by any means - just small and underfunded.

There are 20 staff members in my department.  If I was in Imperial in a department with a similar number of students, there would be 100 staff.

So, what is the real goal of these economists?

I’m thinking it is privatisation of education in this country and I’m also thinking they feel that this is a good money spinner.

It is definitely privatisation of healthcare and that particular sector is looking like it is going to make serious money for some people (most likely those who pay very little income tax, and I’m not talking about the poor).

I have no doubt that there are individuals in the civil service that are reluctant to pull their weight, but this recent scapegoating of the civil service and blaming it for all the woes of the country is simply wrong.  We are in a fix in part because of the international situation, the banks lending too much, people getting too fixated on property, etc.

All private sector activities.

In my opinion, the likes of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, the education sector, many, many sectors of the health service and so on, are necessary, are staffed by great people and are a credit to this country.

So, economists - bog off!!