Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

We will get a copy of it as soon as possible. The difficulty is that at a time when we have to reduce costs significantly, the demands on public services are greater than ever. This creates a real challenge. We are delivering considerably more financial supports and services to our people with fewer resources. The cost of jobseekers' payments is now more than three times the 2006 level. There are 500,000 more medical card holders than in 2007. Demographic changes mean there are more children to teach and more public pensions to be paid. This means we have to drive productivity. When we ask whether productivity has increased, the answer is "Yes". Costs have come down and staff numbers have fallen, but services are still being delivered. We need to go further, however.

The Croke Park agreement was reached in 2010 between the Government, as employer, and the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. It is designed to support a reduction in payroll costs and the continued delivery and maintenance of high quality services against a backdrop of reducing resources and staff numbers. Its aim is to ensure the public service continues its contribution to the return of economic growth. When we consider the value of the agreement, it is important to recall that it was preceded by an escalating and damaging programme of industrial action by public servants in early 2010, which disrupted the provision of important services to the public. The agreement has been successful in delivering widespread industrial peace at a time of unparalleled difficulty and change. It has been endorsed by trade unions and staff associations across the public service. Staff are co-operating with its provisions around change and reform. It has provided the necessary conditions in which difficult decisions can be taken.

We need to reduce costs while meeting increased demand for front-line services. That means we have to fundamentally reform how public services are delivered. The Government set out an ambitious blueprint for change in the public service reform plan that it launched last November. The plan sets out a wide range of actions and commitments that will radically reform structures, operations and processes across the public service. A key element of the plan is the planned reduction of 23,500 in the number of people employed in the public service between the end of 2010 and the end of 2015. In 2008, there were approximately 320,000 people working in the Irish public service, in its totality. By the end of 2015, that number will be just over 280,000. We envisage that between 2008 and 2015, the number of personnel across the public service will have reduced by approximately 37,500.