TRADE UNION leaders have said that it would be a mistake for the Government to abandon the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform.
Speaking yesterday, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg said that the deal provided “the one bit of stability we have in the system”.
Mr Begg was commenting on suggestions made by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) that the Croke Park agreement might have to be reopened in the light of the deteriorating public finances.
However, the ESRI stance on the agreement was supported by the business group, Isme.
Isme chief executive Mark Fielding said the country could not afford the agreement which guarantees that there will be no further public service pay cuts or any compulsory redundancies until at least 2014 in return for co-operation with reforms by staff.
Mr Begg said there was a danger that the constant talk about having to dismantle the agreement could lead to it becoming a self-fulfilling proph- ecy.
“If you keep saying it will have to be dismantled, how is anybody going to put it into place”, he said.
Mr Begg said the Croke Park agreement could “do what it said on the tin”.
He added that it would be a mistake for the Government to walk away from the agreement.
Separately yesterday, the chairman of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the general secretary of Impact, Shay Cody, said that significant savings could be made if management put forward reform proposals.
He said that there was no need for the Government to go back to the issue of public service pay.