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Breaking stories
Public pay deal up for discussion with troika
By Juno McEnroe, Political Reporter
The troika is set to meet the head of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform today, but the department denies troika lenders expressed concern about savings under the Croke Park deal.
Department secretary general Robert Watt will outline to the troika’s visiting teams the savings that have been made in the public sector under the deal with trade unions.His department yesterday insisted the troika had never expressed concern in respect of the Croke Park savings. The statement followed reports that the experts from the EU-IMF-ECB troika had become increasingly frustrated with the Coalition cutting services for the public rather than tackling vested interests in the public sector.
It was confirmed though last night that Croke Park would form part of the discussions.
“It will be about savings achieved to date and the impact of these on the expenditure side and achieving end-of-year targets,” said a department spokesman.
However, it is understood that troika officials will reiterate a statement they made earlier this year.
The European Commission, in its spring paper on economic adjustment for Ireland, then inquired whether savings by reducing the number of employees, rather than by lowering wages, “could risk jeopardising the delivery of public services”.
It said Croke Park needed to be kept under review and “should the desired savings not materialise it would be prudent to consider taking additional measures (eg, revisions to some pay scales and savings in some non- core pay and allowances)”.
It is expected that the same position will be put to the department during talks this week.
Other issues the troika will focus on in the coming days will also include the June statement made by member states that the permanent bailout fund, the ESM, could be used to recapitalise banks.
It is hoped that this will not alone help separate sovereign and bank debt but could address historic bank debt.
Concerns about spending in health will also be discussed.
Other issues that are tabled for discussion include increasing competition in the medical and legal professions, as well as increasing lending for small businesses.
A Department of Finance spokesman said that the budget and targets for reducing Ireland’s debt for the end of the year would be central issues during the talks.
The troika will not hold a press conference at the end of the review next week but the Government will.
The European Commission’s representative here for the visit is István Székely while the IMF visit is being led by Craig Beaumont.
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