Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 428: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding the Croke Park agreement; if he has received implementation plans for this agreement from his Department and each State agency under his remit; the status of these implementation plans; the discussion he has had with the EU and IMF regarding the agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29678/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department submitted its revised 'Action Plan' under the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement In January. In May, the Department submitted its first progress report on the implementation of that Action Plan. The report outlines the significant progress made by the Department, which has been engaged in a fundamental process of re-organisation, major reductions in staffing levels and improvement of its business processes, including major changes to the local office network. The report shows a reduction of 173 staff and total administrative savings of nearly €14million (including non-pay savings of over €4.7 million) in the year ending March 2011, the reporting period for the Agreement. Both the Action Plan and the progress report are published in full on my Department's website (under 2011 Publications). They give comprehensive details of both the pay and non-pay savings to be achieved over the period of the Agreement to 2014.

The Department's progress report and the progress reports of the State agencies under my remit formed part of the first annual review of the Agreement undertaken by the Implementation Body, details of which can be found on the Implementation Body website (www.implementationbody.gov.ie).

My Department will shortly report on the six months to the end of September and that will also be made available on the Department's website.

The Government has indicated that the Public Service Agreement represents a key enabler to meeting its fiscal targets under its obligations under the EU/IMF Joint Programme of Assistance. The quarterly returns made to date by the Government under the Programme on public service numbers and the paybill have indicated that the numbers of public servants are falling and we are on track to meet the existing target of 302,000 public service posts by end 2011. Similarly, the Exchequer pay bill return for the first six months is in line with the 2011 pay bill targets.

The Government has indicated that it wishes to honour the commitments given in the Public Service Agreement. However, this will only be possible if the Agreement is implemented in full.