Kenny says FG would honour pledges in deal not to cut pay

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said that in government his party would honour the commitment in the proposed public service reform deal not to cut pay between now and 2014.

He also said a Fine Gael government would prioritise the restoration of earnings of lower-paid public servants.

Speaking at a convention to select election candidates in Waterford yesterday, Mr Kenny said he hoped the Croke Park deal would be endorsed by public service staff in union ballots. However, it fell far short on the scale of reform needed for public services.

“While it does include some welcome and long-overdue reforms in the areas of staff redeployment and flexible hours, the deal leaves the core structural weaknesses of the system untouched. It does nothing to tackle the over-centralisation of power in unaccountable departments and bureaucracies like the HSE that leaves frontline staff demoralised and frustrated.

“In short, it is a limited agenda to achieve a small cut in the costs of doing things in the same way. What I want to create is a system that facilitates, encourages and rewards initiative and commitment by staff. On the positive side, the Croke Park deal does offer pay stability for both the exchequer and public sector workers.”

Mr Kenny said the industrial action since the budget had impacted on the delivery of services, and was causing difficulties for the public. “These are people who are not responsible for cutting the pay of public servants. The restoration of normal service delivery must be a priority.”

Meanwhile, the general secretary of Impact, Peter McLoone, told branch secretaries in a memo this week that contacts with other unions had made it clear that, in the absence of a negotiated settlement, no other union would be prepared to join it in a campaign of co-ordinated work stoppages to achieve its objectives of protecting pay, pensions, jobs, core working conditions and public services.

“It was also generally felt that, while Impact members were willing to participate in limited industrial action to force the employers’ side back to the negotiating table, the feedback we are receiving suggests that there is generally less support for sustained work stoppages.”

Separately yesterday, the union representing psychiatric nurses said the proposed new public service pay and reform deal needed substantial renegotiation rather than just clarification.

The annual delegate conference of the Psychiatric Nurses Association yesterday criticised the Croke Park deal as “opportunistic, exploitative and non-supportable”. Speaking at the conference in Tullow, Co Carlow, its general secretary Des Kavanagh said the only reason any nurse could vote for the proposed deal was as a result of fear – fear of pay cuts, fear of extensive industrial action and fear of the unknown.