Golden payoffs to shrink public sector

The Government has confirmed another voluntary redundancy scheme for public servants — but failed to spell out how many people it wants to see go or how much money it wants to save.

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin’s department last night said it had no target because it was currently in the process of identifying the numbers surplus to requirements.

However, the opposition suggested the move had been forced on Mr Howlin because of his failure to secure anticipated savings in public sector allowances.

Mr Howlin briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the scheme, which will operate on similar lines to the 2010 HSE voluntary redundancy programme announced by the previous government.

Those departing will receive an ex gratia payment, or golden handshake, of three weeks’ pay per year of service on top of their statutory redundancy entitlements of two weeks’ pay.

This will be subject to the overall amount not exceeding either two years’ pay or one half of the salary payable between the time of departure and pension age, whichever is less.

The scheme will be “targeted”, meaning redundancy will not be granted to applicants whose skills the Government wants to retain. However, despite Mr Howlin briefing the Cabinet, the Government was unable to answer questions about the scheme, including:

* When will it open and close?

* How many public servants does Mr Howlin wish to see go?

* How much will the redundancy payoffs cost?

* What overall savings will be achieved?

Labour’s spokeswoman said there would be further details about the scheme “as it evolves”.

A spokeswoman for Mr Howlin’s department said: “Surpluses are being identified at the moment, so we don’t have a target.”

There are currently about 292,000 people in the public service. The Government wants to lower this to 282,000 by 2014.

However, it is understood natural wastage through retirements would have been insufficient to meet the target, while the Croke Park Agreement on public service pay and conditions prohibits compulsory redundancies.

As a result, it is believed the Coalition is opting for the voluntary scheme in order to speed up the number of departures and ensure the 2014 target is met.

However, Fianna Fáil public expenditure spokes-man Sean Fleming expressed surprise that Mr Howlin had announced such a scheme “with no costings, timeline, or an impact assessment on services”.

He said it was “hard to avoid the conclusion” that the scheme had been forced on Mr Howlin because of the minister’s failure to secure €75m in savings from public sector allowances.

Mr Fleming also warned of the necessity to ensure that crucial staff, such as gardaí, nurses, and teachers, were not allowed to depart.

“If the Government is honestly considering allowing more gardaí and nurses to leave the public service, it will seriously affect public services and call into question the continued imposition of the recruitment moratorium.”