Ineffectiveness of fine against public service (8)
I believe the answer is:
futility
'ineffectiveness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'fine against public service' is the wordplay.
'fine' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'against' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'public service' becomes 'utility' (I've seen this before).
'f'+'utility'='FUTILITY'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for futility that I've seen before include "Uselessness" , "No prospect of success" , "Pointlessness" .)