Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Does the Taoiseach think the abandonment of the pay determination system and its replacement by benchmarking has been, and will be, a success? I was going to ask him about the point he mentioned, if there have been gains through modernisation, flexibility and productivity. One reads little enough about these in the public press and it would be advisable that this matter be ventilated in public, given the importance of the services provided by the Taoiseach's Department, the Civil Service and the wider public service. Does the Taoiseach see the interim report confirming that the 4% reduction to which he referred has been achieved across the area specified in the original agreement?

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