Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The Minister stated that the objective is to downsize further. I ask him to explain what he means by that. I presume he is envisaging something that falls within the parameters of the Croke Park agreement. He might enlighten us in this regard. He also says the objective is to act more effectively and efficiently but his record to date has been purely about reducing headcount via an incentivised scheme for people to exit the service early. Nothing in the master plan or the planning, scant as it is, addresses the question of improving excellence in service provision or efficiency. The Minister is engaged in a crude cull.

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