John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I will begin by outlining my support and that of Fine Gael for the Croke Park agreement. This support is evidenced in the document produced by Deputy Richard Bruton, Reinventing Government, in which Fine Gael outlines a series of proposals within the framework of the agreement which are aimed at reducing the cost of our public service while retaining the vital services it provides. Like the Minister of State, I thank our public servants for the work they do, which often goes unheralded. We should never lose sight of the fact that they perform an important function within society.

Sadly, however, I cannot agree with the Minister of State's claim that the Government has given political priority to this agreement. I do not believe it has. I do not know Mr. Fitzpatrick personally, but I have heard him on a number of media outings recently. To be brutally honest, he did not inspire me with confidence in terms of the agenda he is driving on behalf of the Government. The agreement is not just his responsibility but the responsibility of our political leaders, the Taoiseach, Cabinet and the Ministers responsible, including the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary. They must ensure this issue gets the urgent political attention it requires. We are at a juncture in the history of our country where we need to see fundamental change in how we spend taxpayers' money and we now have an opportunity, at this difficult time, to put in place new procedures, practices and systems for the future. I see no understanding of this on the part of Government.

Much of the Minister of State's comment has been predicated on kicking many of the objectives of the Croke Park deal into the middle of next year when it is more than likely we will have a new Government in power. I have nothing against the Minister of State and believe he is a good man, although he has not been long in his current position. We have heard many promises of reform of the public sector over the eight years I have been here but they have not been delivered upon. I have heard nothing from Government that will convince me it is committed to achieving what has been set out by the Minister of State. I do not get the impression there is a particular sense of urgency, which is disappointing.

The Minister of State mentioned that some unions were still outside the process and perhaps he will outline these in his concluding remarks. I understand the nursing union and all the teaching unions have joined the agreement, but what unions are not taking part in the negotiations on the Croke Park agreement? He also mentioned how management are delivering on action plans for change. It may be unusual for me, but I take the unions at face value and believe they have bought into the Croke Park agreement. I get the sense from the union leaders that they want to see the agreement work, but I do not get any sense from management at senior levels in the public service that they are determined to come up with the action plans that will implement change. This is not the fault of the unions, although I may have been critical of unions in this regard in the past. I do not see a commensurate urgency among the people charged with management in our public services to see delivery on the Croke Park agreement. The Minister of State said he believes that commitment exists but I do not believe it does.

The Minister of State also said that he would not stand for any delay in the second batch of reports from management in the public sector. He has accepted the delay up to now. I am not convinced by what he says because it is very easy to say one will not stand for delay when one knows one's partners in Government intend to call an election at the end of January. He will possibly not be the one who will be in the position of standing against delay when the election takes place.

Will the Minister of State outline in his closing remarks what has been achieved to date outside of the reports submitted in recent months from the different Departments and agencies? What has been achieved and why is there such a snail's pace to progress in this area? While I understand we are talking about a workforce of more than 300,000 and that a detailed process must take place, progress has been very slow. Why was there little or no mention of the Croke Park deal in the Budget Statement last week and why was there so little provision for the savings envisaged under the agreement? We have heard varied media commentary in the past month of the impact of our agreement with the IMF and EU. What impact will the agreement we have made with those new friends have on reform of the public service and on the Croke Park agreement?

I get no sense from Government that it has re-imagined how we should look at providing public services. We have a unique opportunity to do that now. One of the proposals announced by Deputy James Reilly a few months ago in our Fine Gael health document was a complete reform of how we fund our health services, based on funding following the patient rather than on the existing system where hospitals get block grants based on historical figures. Why has the Government not conducted a more root and branch review of how we fund our public services for the future, especially when it has this opportunity to re-imagine how government works here?

More than 1,500 offices around the country deal with various types of entitlements, including local authorities, VECs and Government agencies. There must be scope for rationalising back office services.

We are faced with a choice between the slow strangulation of public services or the complete reinvention of how government works in this country. The Government has gone down the route of slow strangulation when we should be more optimistic for the future.