Croke Park Deal is delivering

9 September 2012

by Cllr Joe Costello

The Programme for Government agreed by Labour and Fine Gael after the last election includes a commitment to honour the Croke Park Agreement. The purpose of the Agreement is to facilitate "a significant reduction in public sector staff number and a significant restructuring to be implemented in a climate of sustained industrial relations stability and staff co-operation." The Agreement is due for review at the end of 2013.

According to the Second Progress Report of the Implementation Body published in June of this year, the Agreement has been effective in its three objectives to date, namely reducing numbers, restructuring and industrial peace. Public service numbers have reduced by 28,000 since 2008 from 320,000 to 292,000 in 2012. Meanwhile the number of staff in the public sector in Northern Ireland is in excess of 230,000. Northern Ireland is an administrative unit of only six counties compared to the twenty-six county Republic which is more than four times greater in size. Likewise the Exchequer pay-bill has been reduced from €17.5 billion to €14.4 billion or €3.1 billion between 2009 and 2012. The Report details extensive productivity and efficiencies in Education, Health, Defence, the Prison and Garda Síochána Service, Civil, State Agencies and Local Government.

The Croke Park Agreement is the most successful social contract in the history of the State considering the enormous austerity measures contained therein. Yet there are constant calls for compulsory redundancies an immediate restructuring of the Agreement and indeed for the Agreement to be torn up. These calls are short-sighted and irresponsible in the context of the Progamme of Government and more particularly in the context of exiting the Troika Programme and regaining our economic sovereignty.