The Northern Ireland Civil Service has had leaders of great integrity such as Norman Dugdgale and Maurice Hayes

Sam McBride (August 29) describes the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) under the present system of mandatory coalition as ‘battered and a byword for irreformable ineptitude’, with senior officials paying ‘limp subservience to their political masters’.
By Dr WB Smith
Published 6th Sep 2020, 11:09 BST
Updated 6th Sep 2020, 12:07 BST
The former Northern Ireland secretary William Whitelaw and former Prime Minsiter Ted Heath, seen in 1996. When after Stormont's suspension in 1972 they began to consider power sharing with an Irish dimension, Norman Dugdale urged caution about introducing premature radical changeThe former Northern Ireland secretary William Whitelaw and former Prime Minsiter Ted Heath, seen in 1996. When after Stormont's suspension in 1972 they began to consider power sharing with an Irish dimension, Norman Dugdale urged caution about introducing premature radical change
The former Northern Ireland secretary William Whitelaw and former Prime Minsiter Ted Heath, seen in 1996. When after Stormont's suspension in 1972 they began to consider power sharing with an Irish dimension, Norman Dugdale urged caution about introducing premature radical change

(‘His article can be read here: ‘Who can restore the broken authority of the Northern Ireland Civil Service?’)

Thankfully, the NICS has had permanent secretaries (heads of department) of great integrity who challenged that description.

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During my thirty years I was privileged to work with two of them: Maurice Hayes and Norman Dugdale.

Maurice Hayes. Like Norman Dugdale, a civil servant of great integrityMaurice Hayes. Like Norman Dugdale, a civil servant of great integrity
Maurice Hayes. Like Norman Dugdale, a civil servant of great integrity

Hayes has written extensively about his life and many roles in the public sector: Sam mentions him in his booked Burned as one of the ‘honourable exceptions’ who put serving the community above their own careers.

Dugdale was another such exception, less well known. Born in Lancashire, he moved here in 1948 and headed up the Department of Health and Social Services from 1970 to 1984.

Hayes described him as ‘a wonderful man to work for and one deeply committed to producing a fairer and more equal society’. 

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When the Conservative government of Ted Heath suspended the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1972, Dugdale cautioned the first British Secretary of State, Willie Whitelaw, against the radical changes proposed by the authors of ‘powersharing with an Irish dimension’.

Like his civil servant colleague Maurice Hayes, Norman Dugdale was a published author, not of memoirs but of short poems. These were reprinted in 1997 as Collected Poems 1970-1995. Much of his work is set in Belfast or rural IrelandLike his civil servant colleague Maurice Hayes, Norman Dugdale was a published author, not of memoirs but of short poems. These were reprinted in 1997 as Collected Poems 1970-1995. Much of his work is set in Belfast or rural Ireland
Like his civil servant colleague Maurice Hayes, Norman Dugdale was a published author, not of memoirs but of short poems. These were reprinted in 1997 as Collected Poems 1970-1995. Much of his work is set in Belfast or rural Ireland

In a personal memorandum, he wrote:

‘By raising false expectations on the one side and exacerbating real fears on the other, those who hanker for an early political settlement may only be increasing the instability of an already unstable and volatile situation. Inconvenient as it would be from the standpoint of Westminster or Whitehall, realism may require a prolongation of the present interregnum, possibly for several years, until new opportunities and fresh groupings of political forces emerge in Northern Ireland.’ 

Whitelaw dismissed Dugdale’s warning, but events proved him right.

The failure of the Sunningdale Agreement in 1974 set political progress here back by decades.

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Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

Dugdale nevertheless worked well with Paddy Devlin, SDLP Minister for Health during the short-lived powersharing Executive. Although very different in background and belief, they developed a mutual understanding based on a shared a love of literature and concern for society’s casualties.

Like Hayes, Dugdale was a published author, not of memoirs but of short poems. These were reprinted in 1997 as Collected Poems 1970-1995.

Much of his work is set in Belfast or rural Ireland. His style is elegant, sometimes austere.

One is caustic about Whitelaw and his colleagues: ‘... gentlemen newly come / to live here at the Governor’s Lodge. Two years from now / You will be safely home again and dining out / On your bizarre experiences, which cannot fail / To please your hostess and amuse the company.’ 

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We must hope that the new Head of the Civil Service, soon to be appointed, will display the same level of critical intelligence and integrity as Hayes and Dugdale, despite the deep structural flaws in the system in which they are required to serve.

Dr WB Smith, Belfast BT15

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Related topics:Northern IrelandBelfast