Detailed plans for the rollout of the Croke Park deal are yet to emerge, writes MARTIN WALL
THE DEEPENING of the crisis in the public finances has led to increased speculation that the Government could walk away from the Croke Park agreement.
However, the Coalition has signalled to the public service trade unions this week that it remains committed to the deal.
There has been criticism of the Croke Park deal on a number of fronts over recent weeks. Some have argued that the guarantees on pay and job numbers set out in the agreement have narrowed the Government’s options for achieving the €3 billion-plus in cuts which have to be implemented next year.
Others, such as Ibec, have suggested that rather than savings made under the reform plan being given back to staff, it would be better if money was earmarked towards dealing with the problems in the public finances.
Other critics have maintained the rollout of the deal, which was first reached last spring, has just been too slow and that the promised public service reforms have not yet materialised.
To some degree there may be merit to all these arguments. On the other hand these have to be set against the considerable benefits to the agreement, if implemented fully. These include offering a mechanism for the continued provision of public services in the context of falling staffing levels as well as industrial relations stability.
Under the deal the Government has promised there will be no further pay cuts or changes in existing pension arrangements over the four-year life of the deal, which runs to 2014. Neither will there be any compulsory redundancies. In return the unions have agreed to co-operate with a wide-ranging programme of work reforms.
At the same time, the deal provides the potential for staff to recoup some of the money lost in recent pay cuts from the savings to be generated from the transformation programme.
However, while the deal was negotiated six months ago and ratified by the trade unions in the early summer, the full outline of the reforms being sought by public service management are still not known.
The deal itself features the redeployment of staff, greater flexibility and, in the health area, the introduction of a longer core working day, spanning from 8am to 8pm.
However, a number of Government departments and agencies have missed the official deadline set for the submission of plans for how the deal would work. The delay has caused significant frustration for union leaders who believe that they are getting the blame for shortcomings on the management side.
The Government has indicated that it intends to stick with the agreement, but until the scale of the reforms envisaged is fully established and progress is made, criticism is likely to continue.