Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Deputy Fleming has raised a number of important issues to which we must have regard. To put it in context, we are committed to downsizing the public service. There is no gainsaying this. The previous Government, supported by Deputy Fleming, signed up to a programme of reduction and we have put in place an enhanced production profile because, to be blunt, there is a €500 million gap in the public sector pay figures with which the previous Government left us - thank you very much - which must be found through policy changes.

We have set an ambitious target of public sector number reductions. There is no early retirement package except for a small one at Coillte which I have approved. It is not as if everybody can walk out the door. Naturally, anybody can retire or resign from any position but only people who are close to retirement will feel they might want to avail of the window of opportunity available to the end of February to retire on the post-cuts pension scheme. We will have to monitor it very carefully, which is why I require people to give three months notice of their intention to retire so managers can plan for gaps that can be identified in the system. Under the Croke Park agreement we can move people up to 40 km. If key gaps emerge we will need another strategy to deal with them. We are determined to address it.

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