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

It is good that the Minister has said he wishes, as a member of the Labour Party, to reduce public service numbers by a further 8,000 before the end of next year. That is a net reduction and it should be noted that teachers and many others who leave the public service will have to be replaced. The target of further reducing the number of jobs in the public service by 8,000 was originally set for 2015. I am surprised by the Minister's statement that he announced last October his intention to bring forward the target by 12 months. I do not recall that announcement, which he has just confirmed, being made.

The Minister referred to a targeted redundancy programme introduced some months ago to reduce public sector headcount by 5,000. The Labour Relations Commission's document about which we have spoken refers to a further headcount reduction of between 2,000 and 2,500, bringing the total to 8,000.

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