Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I asked a broad question on the Croke Park agreement which, as the Minister noted, was introduced by the previous Government. It has helped to achieve, in industrial peace, the reduction of staff numbers from approximately 320,000 to 292,000 and is intended to bring about savings of some €3.5 billion. It is important to put that on the record because people complain now and ask whether we should cut salaries instead of cutting numbers. Before we started on the formal process of the Croke Park deal there had been pay cuts in the public service as well as new pension levies. On average, public servants are taking pay cuts of 20%, depending on grade. That has been forgotten by current commentators who say there should be pay cuts instead of job cuts. We did the pay cuts, we have made the job cuts but the job is not yet finished, as we all know. Unfortunate as it may be, by and large we are seeing increased efficiencies. I will not go into the exceptions. By and large, public services continue to be provided with fewer staff even though this obviously places more stress on those staff.

Does the Minister have a date in mind in 2014? People keep asking about that. I assume it will be the end of March.

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