THE FIRST official review of the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform is understood to have found that it has generated savings of nearly €300 million on pay costs.
The review, which was carried out by the national body charged with overseeing the implementation of the deal, was formally given to the Department of Finance last night. A spokeswoman for the department said it was intended that Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin would bring it to Cabinet shortly.
It is understood the review has found there were savings of nearly €200 million on non-pay expenditure.
Last month Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan indicated that local authorities had produced non-pay savings of about €80 million under the Croke Park agreement. The HSE said it had generated savings of about €100 million.
The report is also understood to highlight a significant cut in numbers employed since the agreement was put in place a year ago, as well as co-operation by staff with redeployment across different parts of the public service and between different parts of the public service. Numbers in the public service have fallen by over 5,000 over the last year since the Croke Park deal was introduced.
The review is understood to point to about 1,000 community welfare officers who have moved from the Health Service Executive to the Department of Social Protection and the transfer of 500 civil servants from various departments to the Department of Social Protection.
It is believed the report says the pace of reform needs to be picked up – a point highlighted by Mr Howlin this week. He said he was confident the review would show considerable savings and efficiencies were being achieved under the Croke Park deal. However “notwithstanding the progress to date, it is clear that a lot more needs to be done”.
“In the programme for government we have set down targets to further reduce the number of public servants by between 18,000 and 21,000 by 2014, compared to the total number at the end of 2010, and by a further 4,000 by 2015,” he told the Dáil.