Deasy: Lapse in filling top Justice post does not send out a good signal

"We have the top administrative job when it comes to the justice area in a void or not filled. I believe it should be acted upon."

PAC Meeting, Nov 5 2015
Department of Justice called and examined 

[Extract]
Mr. Noel Waters: Thank you, Chairman. Given that it is somewhat unique to have an acting Secretary General before the Committee of Public Accounts, I propose to say a few words, with the Chairman's permission, on the circumstances that have given risen to this... As members know, Mr. Brian Purcell, the former Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, moved to another area of the public service in October last year.

​The Minister asked me to take on the role of acting Secretary General, and I felt it my duty to do so. I was working at the time as director general of the Department's immigration service, and I continued to do that role until the summer of this year. It was anticipated that I would be in the job for no more than a few weeks while a competition to fill the role was held in the normal way via the Public Appointments Service. For the sake of full disclosure, I advise members that I was not an applicant for the post of Secretary General at the time.

The competition did not yield a successful candidate, with no name being recommended to the Government for consideration. The Minister has publicly stated her view that this may have been a result of the controversies which had surrounded the post. In other words, there was not a huge number of people knocking on the door of the Public Appointments Service seeking to do the job... The Minister has indicated the job will be re-advertised when she considers the time is right to do so. There is nothing further I can add at this stage. I will continue to do the job for as long as I have been asked to do it.

It is important to note that the word "acting" in my title does not change the way I do the job; I do it in the same way as do all the other Secretaries General. I have no difficulty whatsoever with my colleagues in the Department. They are fully supportive of me in the role, as are colleagues in other Departments and the wider justice system. I am doing the job as if I were Secretary General of the Department. Moreover, I have been formally appointed as Accounting Officer, hence my attendance here today. I consider it important to put these matters on the record before getting into the issues the Comptroller and Auditor General has raised.

Deputy John Deasy: Mr. Waters indicated that the process of finding a new Secretary General will be gone through again when the "time is right". What exactly does that mean? Surely, within any Department, particularly a Department like Justice and Equality, we should seek to have the post of Secretary General filled in a permanent capacity?

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