SENIOR LOCAL authority managers are to cut back their holidays to 32 days per year with immediate effect.
The County and City Managers’ Association said yesterday its members had agreed to implement a 32-day leave limit on a voluntary basis while a process preceding the introduction of a standardised arrangement for all local authority staff continued.
The statement issued by the association came after several days of controversy over leave arrangements for senior local authority personnel.
It emerged this week that some county managers have as many as 42 days’ leave per year.
The association said that at the end of last year they had agreed a maximum of 32 days’ annual leave for senior management should be introduced as part of reforms under the Croke Park agreement.
Following this decision the Department of the Environment and the Local Government Management Services Board earlier this year proposed, under the Croke Park deal, that a standardised leave arrangement be put in place. They suggested this should run from a minimum of 23 days to a maximum of 32.
However, this proposal, as well as another to introduce a standardised working week in local authorities, has faced opposition from trade unions.
At present, a wide variety of annual leave arrangements is in place in local authorities. There are also different rules for the number of privilege days – days off in additional to annual leave – available to staff.
Some of the additional annual leave arrangements stem from local agreements made in previous years to “buy out” staff entitlements to days off to mark church holidays.
Earlier this week, a spokesman for Minister for Public Service Reform Brendan Howlin said there would be a review of leave in the public service.
“Figures show that in some instances the rate of leave has got out of sync with the norm in some areas and these will be looked at and will be reviewed,” he said.
The trade union Impact, which represents staff in local authorities, is opposing the plans for reforms to existing annual leave and working week arrangements. It has said the proposed standardised arrangements should apply only to new staff in local authorities.
Impact has said demands from management for reduced annual leave and a longer working week “are not necessary to deliver the savings or productivity required under the Croke Park deal”.
However, the union has said that as part of any new standardised arrangements “nobody will have 42 days’ leave”.