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Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin at the Croke Park deal progress review last month Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Government pledges: No more pay cuts in public sector

There will also be no compulsory redundancies thanks to “progress” under the Croke Park agreement.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS vowed that there will be no further wage cuts for public servants, and no enforced redundancies.

The pledge comes a year after the Croke Park deal with public sector unions and is made “in light of progress” in cost-cutting made under the agreement, which sought to find a framework for economies within the public sector.

A joint statement issued by the Government and the and the Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions explains: “The Government can reaffirm its commitments under the Agreement that there will be no further reductions in pay rates for serving public servants and on the non-application of compulsory redundancy.” However, the wording appears to leave the door open to reduce wages of new hires in the public sector.

There is also a warning that any commitments will depend on the targets set out in the deal continuing to be met. “These commitments are conditional on the ongoing delivery of the flexibilities set out under the Agreement, in particular those relating to cooperation with reduction in numbers, redeployment, cost containment and changes to work practices,” the statement said. In addition, the recruitment and promotion freeze will “continue to apply”.

Trade union Impact welcomed the statement, saying it confirms that public sector workers are delivering the savings required of them. However, the union warned there would still be significant reorganisation and redeployments within the sector. “This alone further emphasises the value of the Croke Park agreement because it will be the vital mechanism to enable those kinds of changes,” it said.

Read more: Croke Park deal has saved almost €600m in first year >

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20 Comments
    John
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    Mute John
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    Jul 20th 2011, 5:31 PM

    Private sector.. prepare to be hammered! You will support the public sector.

    64
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    Mute BcuTCM0P
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    Jul 20th 2011, 7:15 PM

    Do you actually know anyone in the public sector? I do, most of them take home about €400.

    56
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    Mute Danny D
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    Jul 20th 2011, 9:16 PM

    I do, but people I know are all on €50k+. They are actually laughing at how much they are being paid for “scratching their arse”

    24
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    Mute BcuTCM0P
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    Jul 20th 2011, 10:59 PM

    I bet you could count the amount of people you like that on one hand with three fingers and a thumb cut off.

    15
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    Mute BcuTCM0P
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    Jul 20th 2011, 11:00 PM

    You know…sorry

    2
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    Mute David McDermott
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    Jul 20th 2011, 11:38 PM

    My wages are now down below €400 a week

    13
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    Mute Neil Casey
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    Jul 20th 2011, 4:51 PM

    Howlin can promise what he wants. But its out of his control. If the economy does not grow, and there are no more bailouts from the IMF/ECB , then he just won’t have the money to pay the public sector pay bill.

    52
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    Mute paul mulligan
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    Jul 20th 2011, 6:37 PM

    Looks like the public sector is in for another round of bashing. Lets do a poll! What services do people want to see cut, and what services are you prepared to pay private companies directly for?

    48
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    Mute Collie Woods
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    Jul 20th 2011, 7:26 PM

    No pay cuts, no income tax rises, no cuts to social welfare. How will they pull this off?

    43
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    Mute Mick Dolan
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    Jul 20th 2011, 4:33 PM

    Two words- Roscommon Hospital.

    31
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    Mute Stephen Downey
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    Jul 20th 2011, 9:43 PM

    There are at least three more budgets in this austerity plan. The Public Sector has already been hit hard so they will be left alone this year ( other than having to pay water charges, property tax like everyone else).
    But come budget 2012 or 2013 they will undoubtedly be attacked again.

    25
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    Mute Dominic Achom
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    Jul 20th 2011, 7:56 PM

    They have said that before, they promise but never keep them.

    24
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    Mute Danny D
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    Jul 20th 2011, 4:53 PM

    ekhm… Why not?

    21
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    Mute Terry Turner
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    Jul 20th 2011, 9:34 PM

    The reason for the possible cut is that taxes are not large enough to pay the costs of government and social welfare. The gap between revenue and spending is not being closed fast enough.

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    Mute Jones Frank
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    Jul 20th 2011, 5:08 PM

    Another agreement delivered on by the ICTU unions

    16
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    Mute Frank O Shea
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    Jul 20th 2011, 8:52 PM

    The new Fianna Fail – they fail to see the herd of elephants standing in front of them. Yet the Germans can see our herd of elephants from the far side of Europe. I hear One elephant is called ICTU and another is called IBEC – any other names fir the rest of the hers are welcome.

    15
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    Mute Terry Turner
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    Jul 20th 2011, 9:38 PM

    Why is the gov making promises? Is there an election coming, yes there is. When we have a new pres will the position change.

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    Mute Mata Mata
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    Jul 21st 2011, 9:36 AM

    The public sector must share the pain like the rest of us Minister !

    3
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    Mute Daniel Doran
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    Jul 21st 2011, 1:16 PM

    You’ll be downvoted for that comment. Most of them spend the day on here instead of working.

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    Mute Mary Frain
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    Jul 21st 2011, 8:15 AM

    Dont be fooled, the Gov are seeking other ways to get the revenue, indirect taxes. Its a way of avoiding directly confronting workers but make no mistake there will be less money in our pockets. Add to this interest rate increases, continually rising unemployment thus increased Gov expenditure….not sustainable…….unless of course we stop putting money into dead banks or EU and start putting it into the country…..

    2
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