The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr. Brendan Howlin T.D., today welcomed the publication by the Implementation Body for the Public Service Agreement (‘Croke Park Agreement’) of its third and final Annual Progress Report.
The Minister stated “I welcome the findings of the Implementation Body that approximately €330 million of pay and non-pay savings as well as further reform have been successfully delivered over the nine month period under review. This means that savings of €1.8 billion have been facilitated under this Agreement with the co-operation of and staff and unions.”
The Minister also announced changes to the reporting and implementation structures to support the new Haddington Road Agreement which came into effect on 1 July. The Implementation Body under the Croke Park Agreement is being stood down and will be replaced by a new management-union Agreement Oversight Group to be chaired by the Labour Relations Commission. The Minister said:
“I would like to thank the Chair and members of the Implementation Body for all of their work in support of this Agreement over the last number of years. Their collective efforts have ensured that the Agreement delivered on its objectives of facilitating significant savings and reform at a very challenging time for the Irish public service”.
The Minister added: “The Haddington Road Agreement will build on, and reaffirm, many of the underlying principles of the Croke Park Agreement while giving us the scope to deliver further necessary savings of €1bn by 2016.”
Finally, the Minister said: “We need to build on the good progress that we have made since the Public Service Reform Plan was launched in November 2011. As an important first step, we will be developing a single integrated view of reform which will allow for a streamlined and consolidated approach to planning and reporting, with one single Integrated Reform Delivery Plan for each Department and Office.”
03rd July 2013
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Public Service or ‘Croke Park’ Agreement provides for an annual review focusing on the sustainable savings generated from the implementation of the Agreement and of the agreements in each sector of the public service. This is the third and final such Review and was undertaken by the Implementation Body which is charged with driving the delivery of the commitments under the Agreement. A report from Grant Thornton on independent verification of reported savings from three sample projects is being published in tandem with the Body’s report.
The review covers the 9-month period from April to December 2012.
Implementation Body
The Implementation Body was established in July 2010 and Mr. P.J. Fitzpatrick was
appointed as non-executive chairman. Membership of the Body comprises of
representatives of public service management and the Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The secretariat is located in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
The Implementation Body has now completed its work. The Public Service Stability Agreement 2013-2016 came in to force from 1 July 2013 and new oversight arrangements for that Agreement have being developed.
Key Findings of the Report
The Implementation Body reports that exchequer paybill savings of €161m were achieved during the 9 month review period to end December 2012 (or €214m on an annual basis).
Non-pay or efficiency savings of €169m have been reported to the Body (or €236m on an annual basis).
Total pay and non-pay savings since the commencement of the Agreement in 2010 and noted in the Implementation Body’s three annual reports amounts to approximately €1.8 billion.
Implementation Body’s Overall Assessment
The Agreement continued to be an effective enabler for the implementation of reform and change across the public service and that considerable progress has been made on the consolidation of the State’s fiscal position since the commencement of the Agreement. The Body considers that the Agreement has been a significant contributor to the progress made by facilitating a sustained reduction in public service costs, both in terms of pay and non-pay, in a climate of industrial peace.
The Agreement continued to support the delivery of reform and the implementation of changed work practices across the public service.
Given that the majority of commitments under the original sectoral action plans prepared under the Agreement have now being delivered, the Body recognises that the Agreement is in the final stage of its implementation lifecycle.
The Body acknowledges the co-operation shown by the parties involved and highlighted the further changes and reform that have been achieved with the in such areas as redeployment, changed work practices and revised roster arrangements, the development of shared services, the reconfiguration of services and the restructuring/ rationalisation of organisations and offices.
The full report is available on www.implementationbody.gov.ie