YOUNG FINE GAEL (YFG) has called for a complete renegotiation of the Croke Park agreement at its national conference in Tullamore this weekend.

Speaking to delegates at the conference last night, the president of YFG, Eric Keane said that the agreement with public sector workers or the so-called social partners “stands utterly opposed to the real and radical change needed in the public service.”

“Let us not mince words, in our public service, the good should be rewarded, the great should be promoted and the bad should receive their P45, lump sums unattached,” he said in a speech.

“The low paid should be protected. The high paid should only be high paid if they deserve it. And at all levels systems should be in place to ensure the taxpayers of this country, and we are all taxpayers of some variety, are getting value for money.”

Keane said that the government had got it “wrong” on the Croke Park Agreement.

The three-day event in Offaly has been attended by over 500 people and was addressed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last night. Young Fine Gael is open to members between 15 and 30 and claims to an autonomous youth organisation.

The current conference is the organisation’s 25th.

Kenny told delegates that he still hoped the Croke Park Agreement “would measure up” against the test it faces when thousands of public sector workers retire at the end of the month, Mary Minihan of the Irish Times reported today.