Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation

The Secretary General is the Head of the department and leads it in its mission to serve the public interest by supporting the delivery of well-managed, well-targeted and sustainable public spending through modernised, effective and accountable public services.

This work is particularly focused on supporting and overseeing a coherent and sustainable framework for public expenditure and reform; continuing to show leadership in the effective control and oversight of the public finances and dealing with spending pressures to support long term sustainability; and providing leadership in driving reform and innovation across the civil and public service.

The Secretary General has the following responsibilities under the Public Service Management Act 1997:

• managing the business generally of the department
• implementing government policies appropriate to the department
• monitoring government policies that affect the department
• delivering outputs as determined by the Minister
• providing policy advice to the Minister on all matters within the remit of the department
• preparing Statements of Strategy and progress reports on their implementation, for submission to the Minister
• ensuring proper use of resources and the provision of cost-effective public services; and other organisational matters
• preparing an outline of how specific responsibilities are to be assigned to other officers down through the department
• managing matters relating to appointments, performance, discipline and dismissal of civil servants below the grade of Principal or its equivalent

The Secretary General is also the Accounting Officer for the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitilisation.