Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a chur in iúl don Teachta Éamon Ó Cuív maidir lena mháthair a fuair bás, Eimear Bean Uí Chuív, iníon dheireanach Éamon de Valera. Tá brón ar pháirtí Fhianna Fáil agus cuirim ár gcomhbhrón in iúl. I welcome the Minister of State and his robust defence of the Croke Park agreement and robust challenge to those involved in it to continue it to its logical conclusions and to further develop, promote and enhance the public service. However, he must acknowledge that much of the criticism of the Croke Park agreement is coming from his own party members in the Oireachtas, and I agree with him that it is very ill-informed in many cases.

Do these people calling for the abolition of the Croke Park agreement, in particular from Fine Gael, know what is in it because, in effect, what they are calling for are pay cuts, redundancies and a stop to progress in implementing reforms or some other way to force people to reform? That is what they are doing and I am not sure if they realise it. My impression is that some Members of the Oireachtas believe it applies to very senior civil servants and that if one abolishes the Croke Park agreement, one would be cutting the pay of those at the very top. That is not the reality. If the Croke Park agreement is abolished, every public servant would be hit.

It is important to acknowledge that the Croke Park agreement is a singular achievement of the last Fianna Fáil-led Government and the last Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, which the Minister of State did not do. The Croke Park agreement was not supported by the Labour Party when it was put in place because of its ties to the union movement. I am glad it is now on board. The Minister of State is right to continue to call for debate on it and to continue to challenge his own colleagues and the unions. While substantial progress has been made, more needs to be done in the local authority sector in particular. People who will be paying the €100 household charge will expect enhanced services from their local authorities. At the very least, they will expect to receive replies from local councils on whether something can be done. That will require further reform in local authorities and there is already substantial evidence of public demand for this type of reform, which the Croke Park agreement cannot deliver. At the moment, the main challenge for the Minister and the Government is to ensure that front line services are protected and that the public will not be made to suffer reduced or impaired services unnecessarily, but that has not happened. Much of the planning for what is going on has been done on the hoof.

In my own HSE region of Dublin north-east, 20 public health nurses are retiring. Some 31 will be retiring in HSE west, which is very badly affected. Those retirements are having a huge effect on a much smaller population. In my area, however, public health nurses are under severe pressure. One public health nurse told me that she dealt with 30 births in one month last summer, on top of all her other duties. There is a huge demand and that is one aspect of the health service that will be hit due to lack of planning by the Government for this particular eventuality. In the Dublin north-east region alone, 740 HSE staff are retiring. The figure for Dublin mid-Leinster is 931, HSE south 1,038, and HSE west 1,106. Those retirements will have a big knock-on effect.

We have heard the Taoiseach talk of transition teams. I was in and out for the Minister of State's speech, but I do not recall having heard the term "transition teams" in it. Is there a reason for that? Are there really such teams or, as was alleged in a newspaper during the week, was the Taoiseach just making things up as he went along? That was alleged by a serious political commentator. It is a serious allegation that needs to be responded to. If these transition teams are not in place, it is a very serious situation. It does not appear that the Minister of State has referred to them. The approach taken by various Ministers is that it will be all right on the night.

In addition, the approach to the Croke Park agreement taken by various Ministers has been unfortunate. The Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, has in effect laid the blame on nurses, asking them to change their work practices. In one case, wards were closed and subsequently nurses were told that the wards would not have closed if they had changed their work practices, although there was no awareness of that. I know one nurse who works any hours she is asked to do - nine to five, sleepovers, long days, overnights and six hour shifts. I am surprised that work practices are an issue because in many sectors nurses are working incredibly flexible hours. It is unfair of the Minister for Health to be talking in generalised terms, saying that nurses are all working long days to avoid doing a proper week's work. Not all nurses are working long days. I know one nurse who this week is working a nine to five, an eight to four, a long day and a sleepover. That is a lot of work for a nurse, and many other nurses are working such shifts all over the country. It is not fair therefore to blame nurses for hospital ward closures after the fact. As the Minister of State suggested, we should instead continue to engage with them under the terms of the Croke Park agreement.

The issue of gardaí is a serious one. The Government made some progress following a call by the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, to fill vacancies. The Government filled some of them, but not all. It was unfortunate, however, that the Garda Commissioner had to put pressure on the Government because he should not have to do so. It shows a failure by the Government to deal with this issue and plan for changes that are happening now. There is no point in blaming Fianna Fáil because we stood over the Croke Park agreement as it was being negotiated, endorsed it and set it as our policy. The Government has now had a year to plan for the changes that have been made as a result of these early retirements arising from overall public sector reductions. I accept that the Minister of State has not blamed Fianna Fáil.