Croke Park agreement 'is working'

The Croke Park Agreement is working and is delivering a leaner public service without industrial unrest, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told today.

PJ Fitzpatrick, the independent chairman who has been overseeing the implementation of the agreement, said its value has been “underestimated” and it has “by and large” been successful in preserving frontline services at a time of greater demand.

Mr Fitzpatrick anticipated that by the end of this year the Government will have achieved 70 per cent of the target of reducing public service numbers by 37,000 by 2015.

He anticipated that by 2015 that annual gross savings of €3.5 billion will be made in pay, but that will be offset by a €1.1 billion rise in the cost of pensions.

He told members of the committee who are reviewing the agreement that the reduction in pay and numbers had been achieved with sustained industrial peace which “in my view, can never be taken for granted”.

He also said the unions and staff associations had signed up to the agreements in full and he saw “no evidence” of non-cooperation.

He maintained it could not be implemented in a highly-unionised environment without the “buy-in” from staff.

“I have been impressed by the commitment of management and union colleagues on the implementation body,” he said.

“There is a genuine resolve to make the agreement work.”

He cited a number of examples of successful implementation. A total of €7.5 million had been saved by laboratory technicians and radiologists working outside their designated hours of 9am to 5.30pm without call out charges.

The gardaí will embark on the first rota change in decades from April that will make further savings and prison officers also made significant changes, he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick outlined that some €597 million has been saved in the first year of the agreement with €289 million from pay savings and €308 million from non-pay savings such as reorganising work and achieving greater internal efficiencies.

In addition there was savings of €85.7 million being avoided which otherwise would have been incurred.

When pressed by Fine Gael TD Pascal Donohoe as to how he knew for certain that €308 million had been saved in non-pay related savings, Mr Fitzpatrick acknowledged he was basing the figures on submissions from the Secretary-Generals of different departments and the evaluations of a number of specific projects.

He said a wider audit would be something he would consider in future reviews.

Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming said Mr Fitzpatrick needed to be more forthright in criticising those departments that were not performing.

He said Mr Fitzpatrick’s previous report had been “very general and lacking in specifics”.

If future report were “bland” it would do the public service no good, Mr Fleming warned. “The public service needs to see more specifics in it because they are under attack morning, noon and night.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said he would putting down markers in the next report and stating which departments are making progress and which are not.

The next annual review will be published in June and “tangible evidence of delivery” will be looked for across the public service, he said.

In response to a question from Fine Gael TD Simon Harris, Mr Fitzpatrick said the cost of annual increments was in the order of €180 million a year and they were mostly targeted at the lower paid.

Mr Fitzpatrick also told the committee there was an erroneous perception that you could not discipline or move a civil servant.