Silence on department savings plans

THE Government has refused to make public the contents of action plans prepared by each of its departments on how the Croke Park deal could be implemented.

As part of the roll-out of the public service reform drive, each department was asked to submit an action plan outlining where savings could be made. The deadline had been the end of September, but some departments failed to submit on time. Public service transformation junior minister Dara Calleary confirmed they have all been submitted and are being assessed.

Yesterday in the Dáil, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was questioned about the documents by Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter. He asked whether the information provided by the departments would be made available to the individual parties “in the context of the discussions that are to take place with regard to budgetary matters”.