The Government official in charge of public sector reform has said too many public servants are given high performance ratings.
Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Investigations, Oversight and Petitions, the Programme Director of the Reform and Delivery Office, Paul Reid, said the public service management had not "covered themselves in glory" in dealing with performance.
He outlined the Government's strategy for public service reform, including cutting staff numbers, increasing efficiency, shared services cutting cost, and increasing the use of electronic services.
He said they were looking at how they could increase online applications in line with the State's obligation to protect citizens' data.
Mr Reid said the Government was considering whether elements of the application process for passports, driving licences and planning could be moved online.
A number of committee members queried the long delays in processing medical cards, redundancy payments and carer's allowances.
Labour Senator Jimmy Harte said that for 15 years, people had been able to book a hotel room in South America over the internet, but processing a simple medical card application put the country into a nervous breakdown.
Independent TD Michael Healy Rae said the Carers Association had told him that applications for domiciliary care could take six months to process, with an appeal taking 12 to 14 months.
Mr Healy Rae said this kind of thing was driving people seeking assistance to the point of distraction.
He asked if there was a policy or internal embargo to refuse 80% of medical card claims in the hope that many would simply go away.
In relation to early retirement from the public service, Mr Healy Rae argued that there was no logic in forcing people to take early retirement, paying them a pension and then hiring them again to work.
Mr Reid said that the numbers reduction did put pressure on the system, but said there would be an overall net saving to the Exchequer of €3.5bn a year on pay and pensions.
Mr Reid's office operates within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
