Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Finance the way it is proposed to measure progress against which refunds of public service pay would be made under the proposed public service agreement with the public service committee of Irish Congress of Trade Unions. [17127/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts, 2009 under which the pension related deduction and pay reductions were applied to public servants make provision for a review of the operation, effectiveness and impact of both Acts before 30 June 2011. In addition to the criteria set out in the Acts, the draft Public Service Agreement provides that the reviews will take account of sustainable savings generated from the implementation of the Agreement in the public service. Those savings will be independently verified by an Implementation Body which is provided for under the Agreement. A report of the findings of the reviews must be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Implementation Body provided for under the Agreement will drive the implementation of the agreed transformation measures across the Public Service with a view to achieving early, sustainable and verifiable outcomes to the process. The Body will comprise an independent chair with 3 nominees each from Public Service Management and the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions respectively. The sectoral agreements which form part of the overall agreement set out a clear agenda for change within each sector. The measures provided for under the Agreement vary across each sector and it is not possible at this point to be prescriptive as to what measures of progress will be adopted in each case by the Implementation Body.

The Government is determined that public service management will be proactive and ambitious in delivering on the full range of productivity and change measures envisaged in the Agreement, and accepted as necessary by all parties to it. Strong oversight by the Implementation Body will be an important factor in this.