Events

Date: 24/06/2020

A summary of the event is outlined in this document:.Notes from 24th panel discussion Future Working Environment

‘The Future Working Environment in the Public Service’

8.30am – 9.45am on Wednesday 24th June 2020. 

As we grapple with the challenge of planning our return to work in the coming weeks, we also clearly face a new working environment in the long term. We have assembled a panel with a broad range of experience both in Ireland and internationally to explore some of the issues that will arise:

Maurice Buckley, Chairperson, Office of Public Works and ACESA Alumni

Maurice Buckley joined the Office of Public Works (OPW) in 2017 from his previous role as CEO of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), during which time he was an active member of the ACESA board and a former Chairperson. 

The OPW manages an estate of over 2000 public buildings including Government offices, Garda stations, public offices, and cultural institutions. It provides workplace accommodation to the Civil Service and is tasked with implementing related policy initiatives such as Decentralisation and the Intreo programme. Currently the OPW is chairing an Accommodation Officers sub-group of the Covid-19 Senior Officials Group and working with DPER on defining future accommodation needs for the public service. The OPW is a leading player in project Ireland 2040 with large scale capital investment programmes improving Ireland’s Flood Risk Management Defences, our Heritage Estate, Cultural Institution buildings, and modern building infrastructure. 

He was previously Managing Director of a specialist printing company with plants in Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom, and a Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Munich, Germany. Mr Buckley is a Chartered Director and a Chartered Engineer, with Masters Degrees in Engineering (University College Dublin) and Business Administration MBA (INSEAD, France). 

He is incoming President of Engineers Ireland and a board member of the National Gallery of Ireland. 

David Cagney, Chief Human Resources Officer for the Civil Service 

David was appointed Chief Human Resource Officer for the Civil Service in September 2015. His remit includes the development and implementation of HR policies in the civil service including workforce planning and policies on recruitment; promotion; mobility; secondment, redeployment and performance management. It also includes the Senior Public Service.

Prior to joining the Civil Service he held the position of Director of Human Resources at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

David has previously worked with An Post, IBEC and with the Local Government Staff Negotiations Board in a variety of HR roles. He also served as a Vice Chairman of the Employment Appeals Tribunal from 2007 to 2010.

A graduate of University College Dublin David is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and was called to the bar in 1993.

Patricia Carey, CEO Adoption Authority of Ireland and ACESA Member

Patricia Carey took up her role as CEO of the Adoption Authority of Ireland in August 2014. Patricia was previously Director of Services in St Vincent de Paul, working on major capital and development projects within SVP for 13 years. Prior to her role in SVP, Patricia worked in the community and voluntary sector and in the Department of Education and Skills. Patricia is passionate about building positive relationships with all service users and the collaborative development of services. Patricia was educated in NUI Maynooth and also holds postgraduate diplomas from UCED and the Irih Management Institute.

Simon Claydon, Director, People Policy and Programmes, HM Revenue and Customs

Simon has been civil servant for his whole career, joining the Crown Prosecution Service as an Administrative Officer in 1991.  Since then he has worked at almost level of the UK Civil Service in a range of policy and corporate roles.

Simon’s passion throughout has remained people and he has been senior HR leader for over a dozen years.  He played a central role in two major change programmes in the Department of Health, before moving to the Cabinet Office where he led on Civil Service workforce reforms.  From 2014 Simon was the Director of Civil Service Workforce Strategy and Inclusion and worked with the UK Civil Service’s most senior leaders and Ministers to help shape an ambition for it to become the most inclusive employer in the UK.

As the Director of People Policy and Programmes for the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Simon is responsible for the employment framework and major people programmes such a pay reform and smarter working.  Over the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Simon led HMRC’s crisis response, focusing on workforce and people issues.

For OCED, Simon has chaired the Public Employment and Management working group for four years and helped shape the OECD Council’s Recommendation on Public Service Leadership and Capability adopted in in 2019.

Simon is Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Daniel Gerson, Head of the Public Employment and Management Team, Public Governance Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Daniel Gerson leads the OECD’s project on Public Employment and Management, with a mission to help governments understand and shape the changing nature of work in their civil services. In this capacity, Mr. Gerson oversees the collection of data and development of research, organises events and advises governments on People Management and Civil Service Reform. Mr. Gerson manages the work of the OECD’s Public Employment and Management working party (the PEM); a committee of senior officials representing institutions which set public employment policy in OECD countries’ national governments. The PEM has recently developed the Recommendation on Public Service Leadership and Capability which is the first set of global standards for effective people management in central governments. The PEM is now undertaking research on the future of work in the public service, including the changing skills needed, and the employment systems and leadership required to attract, develop and retain talent.  

Prior to joining the OECD, Mr. Gerson was responsible for a range of projects in the Canadian Federal Public Service, where he worked on developing policies to support social innovation, and helped to design and implement a variety of organisational and civil service reforms. Mr. Gerson holds a Master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of British Colombia in Canada and a Master’s in Public Management from the University of Potsdam in Germany.

Moderator: Pamela Byrne, Chair of ACESA, CEO, Food Safety Authority of Ireland

Dr Pamela Byrne holds a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from University College, Cork (UCC); an MSc in Aquatic Resource Management from Kings College, University of London; a BSc in Zoology from UCC and a Higher Diploma in Environmental Law from the University of Aberystwyth in Wales.

Prior to taking up the position of CEO at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in March 2015, Dr Byrne held the role of Director of Regulatory Policy and Intelligence with Abbott Nutrition. Having previously held senior positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, she has extensive experience of the food regulatory environment, as well as expertise in risk assessment and food safety management at both national and international levels.

During her time at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Dr Byrne gained a deep knowledge of the food sector as an environmental toxicologist and risk assessor, and was instrumental in developing Ireland’s research and innovation policy programmes in relation to food and the bio-economy. Dr Byrne also worked in the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation – Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.

Dr. Byrne was the Chair of the Management Board of the Joint Programming Initiative A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life for the last 5 years. She is also the Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin, Ireland.