Courtney McGrail
Lord of the Files: Working for the Government, An Anthology
edited by Michael Mulreany and Denis O’Brien, revised edition
(Institute of Public Administration, €35.00)
J. Anthony Gaughan
The files in question are those prepared and scrutinised by civil servants. However, the title is misleading as the topics covered in these 648 pages range far beyond the realm of exchanges within government departments or between civil servants and ministers.
Selections are included from well-known writers and less familiar authors to provide a unique array of fiction, satire, drama, poetry, memoir, journalism and political debate about serving the public and working for the Government. The book is beautifully shaped with each section introduced with an appropriate and delightful cartoon from the Dublin Opinion.
Inevitably there is a discussion on officialise and the sometimes baffling bureaucracy of the civil service. Yes, Minister episodes are recorded. When the ebullient Patrick J. Lindsay, Parliamentary Secretary to the Department of Education, carried a file from his to another office without having an usher do it for him, he and his personal secretary were accommodated in a semi-darkened room!
Grants
Witty excerpts from the Dublin Opinion are used to explain unconscionable delays to applications for grants and on other matters. Mártín Ó Cadhain in An Eochair had his own mischievous explanation for such delays. It had to do with the weather!
The writings of teachers are included, such as those of Brian Friel and Bryan MacMahon, both of whom spent many years teaching. MacMahon reminisces on the challenges, mainly physical, which he encountered early in his career. Friel’s reflections are ambiguous. While stating that the happiest year of his life were those he spent teaching, yet he concludes that the entire educational programme was a total waste of time.
Among the many celebrities featured are Hugh Leonard and Brian O’Nolan (Myles Na gCopaleen). Both spent many years in the public services and both were equally dismissive of it. Myles had a marvellous description for his superiors in the service: “Kerry peasants in Treasury pants”. However, while he wrote with unsurpassed wit about the service, it seems that in dealing with the public he could be satirical, sarcastic and just plain drunk.
The final chapter showcases the relationship between literary writers and the public service in which a high proportion found themselves at one time or another. There is no attempt to eschew controversial topics. Excerpts deal with the travails of the writers caused by the restrictions and vagaries of Irish censorship laws. John McGahern describes his dismissal from Clontarf National School following the publication of The Dark in 1964.
Not all the excerpts are critical of civil servants. It is only fair to let Noel Browne (in his memoirs Against the Tide) have the last word. “Working in the department of health among civil servants… I came to understand how unjust are charges commonly heard about the civil service, accused of using red tape, delay, prevarication, or making reactionary penny-pinching decisions!”
The co-editors are to be congratulated for compiling this thesaurus of the wisdom of Irish writing over the last hundred years. Such is its size it is most suitable for an exercise in serendipity. As such it should prove to be popular on many a coffee table.
