THE GOVERNMENT IS to reform a public sector that is “not fit-for-purpose” according to the minister with responsibility for the matter.
Brendan Howlin, the minister for public expenditure and reform, told a conference of the International Research Society for Public Management that Ireland needs a “leaner, more efficient service”, reports RTÉ.
He added that although the service was “full of committed and hard-working individuals”, the country needed to bring about a major cultural change in it driven by the public servants themselves.
However, the Public Service Executive Union are likely to disagree with Howlin’s comments when they meet later today for the annual conference, reports the Irish Examiner.
The general secretary of the PESU Tom Geraghty says the Croke Park Agreement on public sector pay and jobs is working.
Howlin’s comments came as the Irish Times reports that there will be a reduction in terms, conditions and pay rates for as many as 240,000 workers protected under long-standing sectoral pay agreements that will help the reversal of the €1 cut in the minimum wage.
The previous minimum wage of €8.65 will be restored as part of a government jobs initiative that will also need to be agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund as part of a revised agreement on Ireland’s bailout package.
The minister for enterprise Richard Bruton told the paper that some of the arrangements on overtime, Sunday working and travel-to-work under the existing joint labour committee (JLC) structures were rigid, inflexible and archaic.
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