THE GOVERNMENT has given its first indication that there will be further curbs on job numbers in the public service if savings envisaged under the Croke Park deal do not materialise in the coming months.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said that in the event of the necessary sustainable savings not being achieved, “the Government is of the view that further cost-saving measures will be necessary to achieve those reductions”.
He said that a number of options would be available in those circumstances to reduce the cost of the overall pay bill.
In the written version of his answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Michael Noonan of Fine Gael, the Minister said these options would include “reductions in numbers”. However the Minister did not use these words in his verbal answer in the Dáil.
Government sources last night indicated that the reduction in numbers suggested by the Minister could involve additional voluntary redundancy schemes in the public service and a stricter enforcement of the current moratorium on recruitment.
At present some recruitment is permitted subject to the approval of the Minister.
Mr Lenihan also warned individual public service staff that the protections on job security and against further cuts in pay and pensions set out in the Croke Park deal did not apply if their union or representative body had not signed up to the agreement.
The Government has said previously that it is seeking to generate savings of €309 million on the public service pay and pensions bill for next year.
However in its deal with the EU and IMF it has said that by the end of the third quarter it would consider an appropriate adjustment, including in the overall public service wage bill, to compensate for potential shortfalls in the projected savings arising from administrative efficiencies and public service number reductions.
Mr Lenihan said yesterday that the Government’s target for savings was based on an overall reduction in public service numbers to 301,000 by the end of the year and on other savings to be realised through a range of efficiencies and reform measures.
Separately the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has warned of a “visible response” from student nurses from the middle of February if Government plans to phase out payments for work placement periods in hospitals are not rescinded. The union will today refer the Government’s move to the Labour Relations Commission.
INMO general secretary Liam Doran said that the Government’s move represented a breach of the Croke Park deal and of the information and consultation directive.
The union yesterday asked the HSE to shelve the proposed cuts at a meeting with management. However it is understood that the HSE said that the planned cuts were based on a Government decision.
Until now student nurses have received 80 per cent of a full salary during their nine-month placements on hospital wards, which form part of their degree programme. Mr Doran forecast that there would be “a visible response” in the second half of February if the cuts were not rescinded. He signalled that this could involve lunchtime protests, sit-ins or a withdrawal of labour.
Meanwhile only a quarter of the amount allocated by the Government to fund its voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes in the health service has been paid out. Figures released last night by the HSE show that 2003 staff had left under the schemes.
