Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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26. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has considered the job creation potential of removing the extra hours public servants were required to work under the Haddington Road agreement and the filling of those hours by new recruits to the public service. [26128/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that following discussions between Unions and Associations representing public servants in 2013, agreement was reached between public service employers and the unions and associations representing public servants on a Collective Agreement, the  Haddington Road Agreement (HRA). This Agreement provided inter alia  for the working of additional hours by public servants.  The extra hours under this Agreement,  is delivering an unprecedented and structural increase of almost 15 million additional working hours annually in the productivity of the public service at no additional cost and contributes significantly to the provision of public services at a time of significant resource constraints.  Additionally, the Government has allocated a further €300 million in 2015 for additional recruitment mainly for frontline services in Health, Justice and Education to address critical service needs. Both policy responses are directed at providing and supporting the ongoing provision of public services which are critical to those who are required to avail of such services and  are mutually supportive.

More recently following discussions between public service employers and employee representatives regarding a successor agreement to the HRA, proposals for a new agreement, the Lansdowne Road Agreement, have been developed for an extension to the Haddington Road Agreement out to September 2018. The productivity and reform measures provided for under the HRA, including the additional hours, form an integral part of the new proposals which are currently under consideration by public servants and I have no plans to alter that position. I do not believe any such proposal would serve the interests of those who necessarily avail of our social services on a regular basis.  I should also point out that this Government's strong focus on assisting job creation has led to the reduction of the unemployment rate from around 15% in early 2012, to  9.7%, in May 2015 at a time when public service productivity has been considerable increased while the number of persons in employment was 1,929,500 in quarter one 2015, an increase of 41,300 (+2.2%) over 2014 alone.