State ‘should honour pay deal’

The Government should honour the Croke Park agreement in full, according to the president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA), Niall Byrne.

He said the Government had stuck to honouring its agreements throughout the economic crisis.

“Whatever we might think of the merits of the Croke Park agreement, we should not allow ourselves to forget that it is an agreement voluntarily entered into by the Irish Government, and the unions representing its members. To unilaterally repudiate such an agreement now could do untold damage to the country’s reputation.”