Kenny wants to ‘squeeze maximum’ out of deal

Enda Kenny said the Government wants to “squeeze the maximum” amount in savings from the Croke Park agreement, including changes to workers’ allowances, in order to minimise budget cuts.

The Taoiseach also said his Cabinet would reflect on yesterday’s fiscal advisory council report and its call for an extra €1.9bn in savings and taxes over the next two years.

Mr Kenny said the fiscal advisory council report would be considered, but the budget watchdog’s radical recommendations to increase taxes and savings had to be considered alongside the existing agreement with the bailout troika.

“Obviously, it’s not binding for Government but Government will reflect upon any issues in there that it might consider appropriate,” he said. “We have our medium-term targets, and what we want there is to maximise savings and minimise cuts.”

Regarding Croke Park savings, Mr Kenny has ordered all departments to report back to Government by next Wednesday on this, including the planned overhaul of special allowances for public service workers.

A target of €75m in savings on allowances has already been agreed, but it remains unclear if this amount will be cut.

“I’m very anxious, as is the Government. When I met with the implementation group along with the minister, Brendan Howlin, we made it perfectly clear that we’d like to see the process of implementation and change being accelerated,” he said.

“What we wanted to do here was to maximise savings so as to minimise the impact of any cuts that might follow,” he said.

Ministers and their officials have been asked to make their best estimates of what is the “maximum that can be squeezed from the Croke Park agreement in an accelerated fashion in order to achieve that aim”.

Mr Kenny also said he had not seen an expert group’s report on implementing a European court ruling on liberalising the abortion laws in Ireland and that Cabinet had yet to consider the report.

Meanwhile, a security and safety company which announced 50 jobs in Dublin yesterday said it had decided to locate its international headquarter functions here following talks with Mr Kenny.

Xtralis chief executive Samir Samhouri said Mr Kenny had persuaded him on the move at a meeting in Boston.

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