Reform plan 'increases unemployment'

Fianna Fáil said the Government’s proposals on public service reform published today would merely add to the number of people out of work.

The party's spokesman on public expenditure and reform Sean Fleming described the plan as "the weakest document ever produced by any Government".

He singled out Labour for particular criticism, accusing that party of "cutting additional public sector jobs" above the figure that had been previously agreed.

Mr Fleming also criticised the Government's decision on decentralisation. "There's no news item in something that hasn't happened for eight years not going ahead next year," he said.

He said the cap on holidays for new entrants to the public service was good and he welcomed that.

However, he insisted he could find no cost savings in the document and no attempt made to protect frontline services. "It looks as if they have just taken the machete to the numbers and don't care about protecting frontline services."

Sinn Féin's spokeswoman on public expenditure and reform Mary-Lou McDonald claimed the Government wanted to protect "the high-rollers".

Ms McDonald said she fully understood the need for public sector reform and the establishment of a new Government Department to oversee this had been a promising sign.

However, "instead of a radical reform agenda we are just getting an agenda that's about cutting jobs", she said.

Ms McDonald described the Government's document as a "really disappointing piece of work" which was "really light on analysis".

She said the only "concrete" proposal was to "take thousands more workers out of the system", which would mean less staff to deliver services. "There comes a point where you can't do more with less," she said.

On the reduction in State agencies, she said "a cull of bodies is not the way to go".

Chambers Ireland welcomed the reform of the public sector, but said unions could not be allowed to play "the waiting game of endless consultation with no conclusion".