Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Nobody disputes the need for redeployment or suggests that people who are doing nothing should be left in place. Nobody is saying that should continue. We support redeployment. My amendment seeks merely to provide for what has been agreed in the Haddington Road agreement, which states on page 12 that the Department should identify the number of posts at each relevant grade that are surplus and the location of the surplus.

Once a surplus has been established on this basis, the identification of staff to be redeployed will proceed as follows: volunteers will be sought for the redeployment panel and if the number of volunteers falls short of the surplus the process of last in, first out will be applied as appropriate. It seems perfectly reasonable to have some voluntary element to it. The Minister is hanging his opposition to my amendment on the basis that I require this of every relevant public service body. The inclusion of the term "every relevant" was to narrow it down but it is not narrowed down in the Haddington Road agreement. What is wrong with the Labour Party asking people to volunteer first and putting that in statute? It was included in the Croke Park Agreement and in Croke Park II. If the Minister cannot find volunteers, there are compulsory measures. The strong hand still exists now that the Minister is in power. There should be a voluntary procedure in statute and I do not see anything wrong with that. If the Minister thinks there is some technical difficulty with my amendment, which is the basis of his opposition, let that be the reason I withdraw it. I can resubmit it on Report Stage. Why not have a voluntary scheme in statute to see if there are volunteers? It is not to make redeployment voluntary, it is to see if people are looking for it before we force people who do not want to move. There may well be people who want to move. We are looking for the Public Appointments Service to look for that before designating people. The Minister and his officials should think about this. We are not looking to stall redeployment or to put the kibosh on it, we are simply seeking a requirement that is in the relevant agreements, that volunteers are sought before the compulsory nature is forced on it.