Seanad debates

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Croke Park Agreement: Statements

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Mary Ann O'BrienMary Ann O'Brien (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his in-depth presentation. I refer to this issue in passing during other debates in this Chamber. I usually bring it up in the context of some cut that is adversely affecting individuals and groups in the State. I welcome the opportunity to discuss specifically the Croke Park agreement. As a business owner in the private sector, I am fully aware of the need to have peaceful and positive industrial relations in order to run an efficient business. In this regard, it amazes me that we do not see trade unions protesting outside the gates of this complex on a regular basis in light of the economic situation in which we find ourselves. This leads me to question why the unions are so timid in their objection to current policies. I can only draw the conclusion that the Croke Park agreement favours and protects the best interests of the unions and they do not wish to rock the boat for fear of less favourable conditions for their membership. As a country, can we afford the Croke Park agreement any longer?

We are all in agreement that the public sector needs major reforms urgently. It is my belief that the Croke Park agreement is not the tool to achieve meaningful and real reform of our public service. With each passing day, we see mounting problems within the State-provided services. Yesterday evening I met someone working in this House as an intern. Her sister has a child in Walkinstown with Prader-Willi syndrome, which is the most sad and awful syndrome with which any family could be struck. That family has two wonderful social workers; one gives wonderful advice on nutrition and how to guide the baby to achieve a good result, the other is a social worker laying out a plan. Both are taking redundancy packages and the Minister of State has heard countless such cases. It is a disgrace and the family is left wondering how it will cope.

The two main areas where the Croke Park agreement falls down is the flexibility the agreement permits and the speed at which reforms are introduced. What is required is a private sector ideology in our public services to deliver efficient and timely services despite shrinking budgets. On 29 February, 7,000 public servants will retire. While it is clear that we need to reduce drastically the number employed as part of the reform, one must question the voluntary scheme. What genius came up with the date of 29 February? Imagine that we are running a school. I do not have to imagine because I have a boy doing his leaving certificate. Imagine the administration that it will take to make teachers redundant on 29 February and rehire them, hopefully at the same cost, to keep those children taught properly to achieve their exam results in June. If we were running a business like we were running a school, it would spell disaster.

We hear Government representatives state that this voluntary package is the brainchild of the past Government and that it inherited it. This may be true but the current Government has been in power for almost a year and is free to make changes at any time to the terms and conditions but it has chosen not to do so. The flaws are numerous. That there is no compulsory element in this round of redundancies is ludicrous. At the end of the month we will lose hundreds of highly skilled people in specialised areas, with no way of replacing them without fresh recruitment, which involves additional outlay. This could have been avoided if redundancies were targeted at areas within the public service where there is excess.

The Minister of State said he hears all the time about the public sector and the private sector. Taking a small business like mine, with 100 people, in 2008 the world economy collapsed and world currencies went crazy. I had to make a 25% cut in my workforce. If I had suggested voluntary redundancies of 25% of the workforce, Lily O'Brien's would have been gone. I do not know how the public sector is coping. Some of the people who have been with me for 12 and 14 years, such as my financial controller and my CEO, might have been the ones to come forward. One cannot run a business like that. I fail to understand the thinking behind it.

On 7 December, in The Irish Times, the Minister of State stated that the Government is expected to pay out between €250 million and €300 million in increments in the year ahead for public service staff who are due to move up a further point in their pay scales. The Minister of State said that the issue of increments for public service may well have to be revisited. I would love to work in the public service because my job is safe for life and my increments are there. I hope the Minister of State will revisit it.

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