Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like other Senators, I want to make reference to the negotiations on a replacement for the Croke Park agreement. It strikes me that a couple of the building blocks are missing.

I encourage the Minister to take action to address the significant cost of the public service. As someone who worked in management for most of my life and often negotiated with unions, it strikes me that if one does not put in place the background reasons, one finds it much more difficult to achieve the necessary objective. There should have been an announcement regarding the benchmarking of various positions across the public service, including front-line services, with their counterparts in other jurisdictions, particularly those in western Europe. That would enlighten and assist the negotiations. I am sure the Department has all that information. I know the late Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, embarked on that in 2010.

There has been much comment from many people within the public service who are struggling, and are probably in negative equity, about the difficulty they have in trying to make ends meet. This needs to be recognised. I agree fully with Senator Daly that addressing the mortgage crisis is a real priority. It is a sad reflection on these Houses, the Government and officials in the relevant Departments that we are still talking about it five years down the line. We put an insolvency Bill through this House, but we still do not have the architecture necessary to give effect to and implement its various component parts. Until we deal with that, it will be very difficult to advance negotiations in these areas. It would be very wrong if it became the stumbling block because, obviously, a proportion of public servants are caught in that but many are not. We cannot pass on the significant costs of public administration to future generations. If we are to correct the significant deficit we have, we need to look at it in a much more enlightened, energetic and focused way.