Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on this matter. Last week was the deadline for early retirement in the civil and public service. The retirements have presented challenges and will continue to do so for some time. That cannot be argued. However, they are not the kind of apocalyptic challenges the irresponsible rhetoric of the Opposition and some sections of the media would have us believe. More than 7,000 people applied to take early retirement, which represents less than 3% of the staff serving in the public service. This is a significant number, but in listening to Opposition rhetoric in the lead-up to 29 February, one would have believed there was to be a mass exodus from the public sector. This was not the case.

I hope we will see a maturing of the debate throughout 2012 and a move away from the reckless hysteria that has defined it so far. The entire debate needs to shift focus from the number of staff in the public sector to how we can reform the public sector in order that it can deliver services with increased efficiency and productivity and provide the kind of public service the people deserve. The good news is that we have an agreement that can deliver these reforms. At its core, the Croke Park agreement is a bargain. The Government has agreed to protect pay, including increments, and jobs in the public sector from 2010 to 2014 in return for improved efficiencies and productivity. The latter part always seems to be ignored by the media. The title of this debate tends to focus attention on the first part of the bargain, that is, pay and numbers in the public sector, and shifts attention away from the other side, namely, the delivery of improvements in productivity.

People need to ask the question: what is the Croke Park agreement stopping us from doing? The answer is nothing. We now have an opportunity to radically reform the public sector with the co-operation of the trade unions. The agreement offers the best opportunity to improve how our civil and public services are run, make them more efficient and productive and ensure the best possible services are provided for the public, yet there are dissenting voices, not just in the media but also even in this House, including some Fine Gael Members, our partners in government. What do the dissenters want? Do they want further cuts in public service pay? Do they want further cuts in public sector numbers? What would that achieve? Strikes, industrial action and a downward spiral of confidence and morale would most definitely result. That is not what Ireland needs at this critical time for the economy.

Full implementation of the Croke Park agreement is a no-brainer. All stakeholders must work towards this and the naysayers must stop what they are doing. The Minister needs to lead the way, as he is doing. Secretaries General must examine their entire Departments to identify waste in all its forms and eliminate it. Well paid senior managers in the public service must step up to the plate and line managers must do the same. Public service managers must do what private sector managers have been doing for years in order that their companies stay competitive, that is, deliver improvements and manage change and to be held absolutely accountable for doing so.

Public sector workers do important and, at times, unappreciated jobs. They look after the sick, fight crime, teach our children, clean the streets and provide many more services that are often taken for granted. The public versus private sector debate promoted in certain sections of the media needs to stop now. It is our public service and we must appreciate it, but we must also challenge it and at all times seek to improve it. We have an absolute responsibility to make it more cost-effective. This must continue on an ongoing basis, not just for the period of any one agreement.

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