Top public service managers have been instructed to step up their plans to cut costs - including considering bold and unpalatable options.
In a letter to the heads of all government departments, the new Secretary General of the department of Public Expenditure Robert Watt says managers should consider options including outsourcing, rationalising grants and subsidies, selling property and charging for services.
He also urges them to examine further human resources initiatives that could go beyond the present scope of the Croke Park agreement.
The letter says no state agency should be viewed as 'above critical consideration' for abolition or merger.
On human resources, Mr. Watt tells bosses to consider reforms to generate further savings and efficiencies - including measures that go beyond the Croke Park agreement targets as currently specified.
He says managers must be 'forthright' in putting forward bold, creative, ambitious and even unpalatable savings and reform measures - to give government maximum scope to exercise its decision-making function.
Government departments must produce their first draft of proposals for cuts over the next week - with final targets submitted by the end of July.
