Savings overestimated from Croke Park deal, says Fine Gael TD

The savings made under the Croke Park Agreement may be overestimated, according to a TD who is calling for a change in the calculation methods used.

The body overseeing its implementation said pay and non-pay savings of €1.5bn were made in the first two years of its existence.

But Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy said the savings were based on the “total staff cost” of employees leaving the service, which amounted to their salary plus 40%.

He claimed the method included certain, non-salaried overheads that were incurred by employing someone, including desks, lamps, and computers.

Mr Murphy referred to the Department of Agriculture, which, he said, had initially used a figure lower than 40% only to be told they had “underestimated” their savings.

“The headline savings reported under Croke Park in this instance do not accura-tely reflect the real savings that were made. The savings were less,” Mr Murphy wrote on his website.

“The figures are not as accurate as they could be.”

The Dublin South East TD asked: “Does this mean that we are overstating the savings we are making under Croke Park? Perhaps then we should revise the method-ology that we use?”

He asked if the calculated figures cannot be trusted, “how can we have confidence in the agreement and what it says it is delivering?”

Mr Murphy also questioned why the Croke Park Implementation Body did not have representatives from outside the public sector.