TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has said that the high number of public sector retirements due by the end of this month will not affect frontline services.
The Taoiseach played down the effect of the departures on public services in the Dáil this morning.
“There are 300,000 persons employed in the public sector – 3 per cent of these are leaving, 97 per cent will remain in situ,” Kenny told the Dáil chamber.
He added that the “flexibility” of the Croke Park deal will be put to the test by the retirements but that there is “no intention” that the plan will affect frontline services.
Responding to a question from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach said that a central planning unit in the Department of Public Expenditure is monitoring the situation and the HSE has asked to draw up a risk assessment on the situation.
Earlier this morning Brendan Howlin said that it would be ‘foolish’ to say that there won’t be problems caused by the spate of retirements.
It is estimated that more than 7,700 staff have applied for the early retirement scheme which allows public servants to retire on pensions based on their salaries before they were cut under the Croke Park Agreement in 2010.
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