Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government has published the approved text of new legislation to give effect to the draft agreements arrived at during the recent LRC process. Legislation is needed if direct pay reductions are to be applied to the pay of any group of public servants, including officeholders, such as members of the Government, Members of the Oireachtas and members of the judiciary, and to the pensions of former public servants. Legislation, therefore, is necessary, regardless of whether the proposed reductions are the subject of agreement with the public service unions and associations.

This legislation also confirms the Government's ability to make the necessary savings, should collective agreements not be reached with the unions, by setting out a number of contingency measures. We estimate that these measures will achieve savings to the value of €300 million by the end of the year and €1 billion by the end of the three-year period. The Government has sought at all times to make the necessary savings by agreement. There are very significant benefits for all if work can be done in an atmosphere of industrial peace across each part of the public service. This will benefit both people working in the public service and all of us who rely on public services working efficiently. Employees will know that the essential elements and protections of the Croke Park agreement remain in place. From a national perspective, industrial peace in the public service can be secured at a critical time in our path to economic recovery.

This is a critical time for Ireland. We have restored economic stability and regained our credibility on the international stage.

We are on our way to regaining our economic sovereignty. We are on the road to recovery.
In tackling salaries above €65,000 we are attempting in as far as possible to insulate lower paid public servants from the effects of necessary cuts. The Government has been committed to finding the necessary savings from the pay bill, some €300 million from the pay bill in 2013 and €1 billion by the end of 2015.

The Government has always maintained the preferred option is to deliver the necessary savings by agreement and this has been the basis for engagement with unions in the past five months. The Government has also indicated that it is prepared to show the necessary flexibility around how savings could be achieved. That flexibility was availed of by some unions during the original Croke Park II discussions and the Labour Relations Commission process. We are pleased at the outcome of the LRC process this week, which provides us with an opportunity to achieve the necessary savings, afford the protection of a collective agreement to public servants and to provide industrial peace in the public sector at a crucial time for our economy.

I welcome the Minister to the House and I commend the Bill.

Senator Sean D. Barrett:I also echo the welcome to the Minister. I will be supporting what he is doing. We would all wish not to be in this position, but two years ago the Members of the Seanad met for the first time in the month of May and this was our job. One could have said that it was the fault of Fianna Fáil, but that is the position. It is amply illustrated in the review - - - -