ABSTRACT
The powers of the Executive throw an ever-increasing responsibility upon the Civil Service. The department in whose hands is vested the control of the Civil Service is the Department of Finance. The definition of functions of the Free State departments was carried out in the Ministers and Secretaries Act of 1924, in which due attention was paid to the Report of the 1918 Committee. A department whose primary purpose is the coordination of policy and the unification of administration should be encumbered with duties of a nondescript or indeterminate character. The importance of the existence of a Department of the President lies in the fact that it provides a means of putting forward a carefully planned policy. The difference is important in that it stresses the new dependence that is placed upon the Civil Service. In the lower grades of the Civil Service admission is determined by competitive examination.
