Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. It is our responsibility, as a Government, to deliver public services we can afford and, by the end of this year, the public service pay bill will reduce to approximately €15 billion. There has been a significant saving since the process began in 2008, with a view to a total reduction of more than €14 billion by 2014. This will have a significant impact on budgetary issues. This necessitates changes in 2012 that will have the greatest impact on services, at which point we will have reached 70% of our target reduction. For this reason, this year presents an opportunity for the public sector to reaffirm its commitment to the conditions of the Croke Park agreement. I have had the opportunity as a member of a Government party to meet the unions and individual public service workers in recent months and there is a sense of willingness among them to bring about change in order that they not only adhere to the agreement but also ensure the State wil be in a better position when the agreement concludes.

While staff reductions will result in many changes to the public service, this is part and parcel of the agreement to ensure savings can be made without cutting jobs or wages and to provide for the delivery of improved services. The agreement is not only about reducing staff numbers and hoping for the best; it also allows for strategic conditions to be put in place amidst a reduction in resources, while enabling management to continue to identify options for redeployment. Ordinary retirements throughout the public service create an opportunity and a challenge for young, ambitious public sector workers to make their mark and bridge the gaps, where necessary, while also encouraging newer strategies to improve work practices.

Two Ministries are focused on the delivery of a smaller, more efficient public service. I welcome the Taoiseach's recent establishment of the transition teams to manage the impact of early retirements following the closure of the scheme on 29 February. These teams will oversee the management of the delivery of public services under the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Recruitment will be enabled, despite the embargo, where Departments can justify a requirement for additional staff resources.

As Deputy Seán Kyne said, there has been a debate in the media pitting public and private sector workers against one another, which is unfortunate, because, in an international context, public service participation in the workforce stands up in comparison to our European counterparts, with 14.8% of the workforce employed in the public sector. This is at the mid-point of the scale compared with France, the United Kingdom and Denmark, while it is significantly ahead of Germany, Italy and Greece. While the majority of public sector pay scales are in line with the EU average, Ireland does not perform well in the context of overall working hours. It is crucial that improvements are made in this regard to counteract reductions in staff numbers, although there are always exceptions.

While commentators may find it easy to criticise the implementation of the Croke Park agreement by creating a perception that there is a lack of co-operation or success, these views are not helpful, especially when the enormous increase in demand on public services since 2008 is considered. There is a greater demand on the Departments of Social Protection, Health, Environment, Community and Local Government and Education and Skills. For example, the HSE processed more than 1 million medical card appliacations last year.

The Department of Social Protection, despite the enormous number of applications and pay-outs each week, has managed to maintain services, while also developing new initiatives such as Pathways to Work. The movement of 700 staff from FÁS to the Department is a method of balancing demands, while retaining numbers and skill sets. That is what the agreement is about.

One of the more obvious examples of the Croke Park agreement is within the education system which has undergone changes to classroom arrangements, teaching resources and working hours. It is important to note the development in the number of hours that teachers give voluntarily to their vocation. For example, many sports and extra curricular activities are organised by teachers outside their core hours and it is important to acknowledge how students and the community benefit from their input.

While I welcome the progressive co-operation we have enjoyed with unions with regard to implementation of the Croke Park agreement, there are still peripheral issues that I consider to be relevant and wish to highlight. I would not be alone in raising concerns about the level of aggressive lobbying experienced after the budget, most notably involving the use of children to lobby Members to protest against cuts to the numbers of teaching posts, such as those who attended many clinics throughout the country. This took place without the support of the union hierarchy, as they informed me. It is not the right of those who benefit from the terms of the agreement to engage in such practices in protesting against it. There is a need to secure a commitment from union members that we are on the same page and ready to take the next step in order to instil public confidence.

While there is no agreement in place for students, patients, old-age pensioners and any other section of society, the Croke Park agreement can be used to protect services in the interests of the public at large. That is our priority in the Oireachtas. It is in the interests of public sector employees, the implementation body for the agreement and the Government to ensure we are successful in delivering services which is the key to its success.

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