Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Tallon and Ms Buckley and their officials for being here today. I wish to add my comments to the point the Chairman made. I commend the approach being taken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with one caveat, which I will get to in a moment. Nobody has a veto over the process. What public sector managers are doing and are being instructed to do is actually managing. There is a mechanism in place for adjudications and rulings to be made on decisions by managers after negotiations have taken place. I actually welcome the fact that the paralysis that has dominated the public sector and stood in the way of public sector reform in the past few years is being broken.

Having said that, from our engagement with the unions, which the Chairman touched on, the criticism I have of the process is that the Labour Court has made a determination on some of these allowances. I hope we are not going down the route of putting forward potential savings that we will not be able to achieve. I do not know if Ms Buckley is in a position to comment on that - I know she probably does not want to comment on specific allowances.

While I welcome the process, I do not think any employer, and certainly no private sector employer, would wait for an employee to want to see a change to his or her pay structure. That is not how the world works. As was made clear to us today by the unions, I am concerned that the Labour Court has already made a determination on some allowances that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has identified for removal as quickly as possible. If Ms Buckley could add any clarity to that, it would be helpful.