Mark Dearey (Green Party)

The division that has opened up between the public and private sectors is of concern, but understandable. The deal contains a provision to focus savings on public servants earning less than €35,000 per year, but many in the private sector would aspire to that figure. As an employer and without breaching confidentiality too much, my staff would be happy to get €35,000, but they do not. They watched much of what occurred within the public sector. In particular, some of the benchmarking agreements were arrived at with great resentment. As someone who has worked to build a business and sustain employment in these difficult times, I share that experience of resentment. The gulf needs to be healed, otherwise we will continue on parallel tracks not understanding one another.

That the Croke Park agreement was voted on by the unions and supported by the majority is a recognition that the twin-track economy of the public and private sectors must come to a close and that the two sectors need to begin aligning. I will explain what I mean. The competitiveness of the productive private sector is highly dependent on the wages paid to those who work in the sector who, in turn, are seriously influenced by the agreements arrived at within the public sector. I am firmly of the view that our competitiveness as a nation was corroded by benchmarking in the boom times. We simply cannot afford it. The €19 billion deficit this year is proof positive of this, although there are many other contributory factors. However, there is no question benchmarking played a significant part.

I welcome much of what is contained in the Croke Park agreement, some of which I never thought would I see. I hope the implementation body will do what it has to do to ensure every box is ticked in terms of the sectoral implementation plans. I welcome that the Minister of State spoke of the need for the adoption of a dynamic approach to implementation. That is needed because we are on shifting sands and it is difficult to know where we should plant our feet to find solid ground from one week to the next. The country can find its way out of the radical difficulties which which we are faced. A cross-party approach would be most helpful in the framing of the four-year plan.

We must take account of what the Croke Park agreement will deliver. It was conceived in difficult times, albeit not as difficult as those we currently face. It was conceived when some of the unpalatable but necessary choices about to be made were not on the horizon, when it seemed likely we could reverse the pay erosion that had occurred in the previous period. I note Mr. Willie Slattery's comment on that proposal that we could not afford it, which is persuasive.

Implementation is critical. Senator O'Toole's demand for a very clear assessment and measurement is timely and appropriate. He is right to highlight the need for this in the weeks and months ahead as we debate the Croke Park deal and its gradual evolution.

Regarding the division between those involved in the public service and the productive private sector, the Croke Park deal has the added benefit of feeding competitiveness back into the private sector. Wage restraint in the public sector leads to wage restraint among employees in the private sector and allows employers to focus on survival and making their businesses more competitive. Recently I attended a trades council meeting in my home town and spoke on the issue of Northern contractors who mended the roads. Senator Keaveney will be aware of this being a source of huge frustration for constituents who see it as jobs for people from the North of Ireland and wonder why we do not give the jobs to our own at a time of high unemployment. I proffered the view that the day I saw our own repairing the roads would be the day I would know the economy had regained competitiveness. Even on a small island with two separate economies, we are still some distance from achieving that outcome, on which we need to focus. In so far as the Croke Park deal can contribute to this, it will lead to a recognition within the private sector that the public sector is taking full account of the reality in which we find ourselves. The Croke Park deal will help to achieve the solidarity required between the public and private sectors if we are to work together and find consensus. That is subject to its full and dynamic implementation, taking account of changing circumstances and not becoming fossilised about the failure to meet a particular date or secure a certain signature or set of signatures from April or whenever the agreement was signed. It is most important that we maintain a flexible approach. That is not a mealy mouthed way of implying bad faith but simply a recognition of the need to stay grounded in reality, recognising that the benefits will be far reaching and unifying for the economy and the country as a whole.