Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 13:

In page 6, after line 47, to insert the following:

"(8) The Minister may, by order, decrease the scale of the reduction under this section, in whole or in part, in the event of demonstrable improvements in the efficiency of delivery of individual areas of the public service.".

One of the issues that emerged during the debate on Second Stage was the relationship between the Government and the public sector unions. There has been a breakdown in the trust between the two sides during the partnership talks. There is still a need to proceed with the introduction of the proposed massive efficiencies that were under discussion between the trade unions and the Government because I do not know what other alternative the Government will have this time next year unless we manage to introduce changes in terms of the way people in the public sector work. This process had been practically agreed between the Secretaries General of the relevant Departments and the trade union leadership before the talks collapsed prematurely. There is a need to introduce a mechanism to give the public sector some confidence that this is not just about purely straightforward cuts for the next few years. We need to instill confidence that we are examining the continued modernisation and possible acceleration of the public sector which will bring benefits to our citizens. Given the current financial crisis, I cannot see how the Government will have any choice next year other than to introduce another round of cuts in the salaries of public and civil servants. When we consider the financial crisis and the fact that GDP is still retracting, we can see that, regardless of the good news we hear in the media today, it will not be enough to stop these massive changes next year.