Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to finding the necessary pay bill savings of €300 million for 2013 and €1 billion by end 2015. We have always maintained that the preferred option was to deliver the necessary savings by agreement.

As the Deputy will now be aware, on foot of the rejection by the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, of the Labour Relations Commission, LRC, proposals negotiated in February of this year, the Government had asked the commission's chief executive, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, to initiate discussions with various public sector unions and representative associations on whether there was a basis for a negotiated agreement for achieving the necessary savings.

We have always indicated we were prepared to show the necessary flexibility around how savings could be achieved. That flexibility was availed of by some unions during the first set of discussions which took place earlier this year and again during the most recent LRC process.

Mr. Mulvey and his team have been engaged in intensive discussions with the parties over recent weeks and he has kept me fully informed of developments. Those discussions concluded on Monday last and unions now have draft proposals for agreement for consideration under their own rules and procedures.

The Government is pleased with the outcome of the LRC process. I thank all those involved in the talks, particularly the LRC which facilitated the discussions. It provides us with an opportunity to achieve the necessary savings, to afford the protection of a collective agreement to public servants and to provide industrial peace in the public service at a crucial time for our economy.

As I have stated, if these proposals are accepted, it will be possible to achieve the required savings and achieve major increases in public service productivity to secure the necessary reduction in the public service pay and pension bill. The essential elements and protections of the existing public service agreement will also remain in place and industrial peace in the public service can be secured at a critical time on our path to economic recovery.

Also today, I published legislation to give effect to the pay reduction for those earning over €65,000, the parallel reduction in public service pensions and other contingent measures to enable the Government achieve its savings requirements in the event of non-ratification of collective agreements. Obviously, unions can opt out of the collective agreement if they so wish.

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