MINISTER OF State for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary yesterday rejected suggestions that the Government’s decision to defer proposed public service pension reforms represented a “sweetener” to win support for the Croke Park agreement.
Mr Calleary also appeared to rule out any involvement by the private sector in the body to oversee the implementation of the pay and reform deal agreed at the end of March.
In the budget in December, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan signalled the Government would be reviewing public service pension arrangements. Mr Lenihan indicated the Government would consider linking public service pension increases to the cost of living.
However, in a document released on Thursday clarifying elements of the Croke Park deal, the Government said it would not be proceeding over the lifetime of the agreement with the implementation of the pension reform proposals. But Government sources said it remained committed to such principles.
Speaking yesterday on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Mr Calleary said the Government was committed to engaging with the unions in a very detailed process around pension changes.
He said this could be carried out in the first review of the Croke Park agreement in 2011. However, he said this process could take some time.
Mr Calleary added that in the interest of certainty, a commitment had been given that the proposed pension changes would not take place until 2014. The Minister said the move was “absolutely not” a sweetener aimed at securing support for the deal in ballots of public service staff currently under way or planned.
“We have laid out in the clarification the process by which these negotiations will take place, the process by which there will be input and equally the fact that that there will be independence on both sides. That is the proper way to do it,” he said.
Employers’ group Ibec yesterday said the Government’s decision to defer implementation of the pension reform proposals was “extremely worrying”.
Ibec director of industrial relations Brendan McGinty said that to avoid any sense of slippage, confusion or obfuscation, the Government needed to agree to bring forward legislation governing public service pension reform so it would be ready to implement the changes from 2014.
He said a date for the implementation of the changes should have been set out in the Croke Park deal.
Mr McGinty said the deal presented a real opportunity for public service reform.
However, he said there should be strong private sector involvement in the body which will oversee its implementation.
Mr Calleary said the deal represented an agreement between employer and employees.
He added that the implementation body would represent the interests of the Government as employer and of the employees.
The Minister said he did not foresee an input by third parties at this stage.