Mr. P. J. Fitzpatrick:

I am not sure there is a cash saving in that regard. It is more about time. For example, if one looks at the Civil Service, I understand principal officers and assistant principals would have lost one day in annual leave. More senior people in local government with high levels of leave lost a lot more. There is no cash saving there as such because the people are still employed. However, any extra hours, regardless of whether they come by way of less annual leave or other means, help to cope with the reduction in numbers. That is where the benefit lies. We had also to address the issue of what is an acceptable level of leave in those discussions. There were seriously high figures in some areas over which nobody could stand.