Public sector 'may lose allowances'

Some staff in the public service could lose allowances they are currently receiving on foot of a review that is currently under way, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has indicated for the first time.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is currently evaluating around 800 different allowances paid to staff across the public service. Up to now the department has signalled that only new beneficiaries would be affected by any Government decision to scrap particular allowances.

However, speaking to journalists at the annual conference of the Public Service Executive Union in Kilkenny this morning, the Minister said: “We are engaging on the basis of looking at the allowances into the future that is true, but there may be cases where they are not justifiable even for existing cases.”

He said all of this would be a matter for a decision by the Government and he would be making proposals when the current evaluation was finalised.

Mr Howlin also said the €500 million currently paid out by the Government on sick pay for staff in the public service was not sustainable.

He said the Government had set out to have a standardised sick leave arrangement in the public service and had engaged with the unions on that issue. He said progress was being made and when this process was finalised he would bring proposals to cabinet.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Howlin also said more radical and innovative ways of extracting costs and increasing productivity are required under the Croke Park agreement. He said the issue of how the agreement is delivering is raised with the Government by the EU/ECB/IMF troika on each of their visits.

Mr Howlin told his audience that over the period 2009 to 2015, it was expected that the exchequer pay bill would reduce from €17.5 billion to €13.7 billion, as a result of measures agreed under the Croke Park deal.

“That amounts to a saving of €3.8 billion from the peak of the public pay bill. Even when the inevitable increase in public service pension costs over that period are included, there will still be a €3.3 billion or nearly 19 per cent reduction, which, by any measure, is very significant.”

Mr Howlin said it was clear that it was “in all of our interests that we make a success of this agreement and to prove the doubters wrong”.

“Within the framework of the agreement, we need to look at more radical and innovative ways to extract costs and deliver increased productivity and reform. It is important that all staff get behind the delivery of change, whether it is changing employer or location, retraining and upskilling to do different things, co-operating with the introduction of shared service operations, or changing the way in which we interact with customers and business.

"Further reform is necessary for the public service to function effectively into the future,” the Minister said.

“We must ensure that the agreement works for our bright and talented public servants, supporting them to achieve their full potential. They, as much as anyone, want to see the end of those age old complacencies and structures that are wasteful of innovation and initiative and complicit in allowing instances of underperformance to go unchecked. We must not let them down in that regard.”