FAS - It's all about PERCEPTION

[Guest106]

Thats a load of rubbish. I and my colleagues in the civil service have to travel on occasions and we always travel economy class and don't mind doing so. Have never heard of anyone that I have worked with ever travelling business class and would not expect it. That goes the same for senior civil servants.

Boris
Your statement is hardly true of 'all civil servants', is it ?
Is it true of the staff of DFA ?

 

[Mpsox]

No - Just Heads of Department and the staffs therein. IDA, FAS etc are not civil sevants, they are semi-state organisations who operate under a certain degree of autonomy. I cannot say what Ministerial travel arrangements are but I am just talking about the civil and not public service.

Where I work, all travel arrangements are scrutinised and no excess is allowed e.g. only one car carrying multiple persons where feasible. Overall it would have to be done as cheaply as possible and within reason. There would have to be justification otherwise. It strikes me that there was a complete lack of controls at FAS regarding T&S.

I think you've raised an interesting point here. As someone who works in the private sector, I never really differentiate between public and civil servants, to me it is all the "civil service". In fairness, most of the issues being raised on here and elsewhere are about staff and management in public service bodies and quangos, not the civil service itself.