Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their contributions on this Bill.

Senator Byrne asked a number of questions. Is this wider than the Haddington Road agreement? It builds upon what has happened in recent years. We had significant redeployment of 10,000 people under the Croke Park agreement without any great hassle. That was unprecedented. There was, however, no legislative basis for that redeployment. It was done on the basis of secondment and those people must have their positions formalised for their own security and that of their employers. This legislation does that. It removes the legislative barriers that prevent that.

There has been significant redeployment in the health service, which has been extremely flexible, with 5,880 people moving across the executive in the last couple of years. In education, 1,772 staff, comprising 1,675 teachers and 97 administrative staff, have moved in the last couple of years. In the Civil Service, 600 staff have moved into the Department of Social Protection, while another 1,770 from FÁS and 1,020 from the community welfare service moved into the Department. These were not easy movements because the pay and structures were different. It has always been difficult to achieve that flexibility. It is important we put a formal structure in place to allow that to happen much more easily in future.

The unions were consulted on this and they raised no issues on these proposals. They are consistent with Croke Park arrangements that were formally agreed and the arrangements outlined in the Haddington Road proposals.

Senator Byrne mentioned volunteers. Organisations will identify posts that are surplus to requirement and will ask people to redeploy and look for suitable redeployment for them. In the Bill, sectoral agreements will be fully maintained. Haddington Road will run its course in the next few years, assuming it passes, but this Bill will be a permanent feature. We do not want to instance particular agreements but all sectoral agreements will be reflected. This Bill will fully reflect Haddington Road and the agreements on redeployment.

The Senator raised the important issue of a definition of basic pay. The Senator is right that basic pay is core pay but not overtime pay. It is important where a person is moving from a job, such as a nurse who routinely works overtime or is on night shift-----