Minister: Unions undermining Croke Park Agreement

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said today that unions are undermining the Croke Park Agreement by fighting for the retention of "privilege days".

The Government has failed to abolish two privilege days which sees civil servants receive two day of holiday leave at Easter and at Christmas.

Instead, the Government plan is to convert these days to two extra days of annual leave.

It has also emerged that unions are fighting for staff at FÁS to hold onto 70 days annual leave in the two years before retirement.

Speaking to Radio Kerry's Jerry O'Sullivan, Minister Vardakar says by fighting for these perks, unions are doing their members a disservice.

"The whole idea behind the Croke Park Agreement is that there won’t be any more public service pay cuts," he said.

"We don't want to impose any more pay cuts on people. That promise can only be kept if savings are found through other means, and if unions and public service workers aren't prepared to give up these kind of privileges, then the Croke Park Agreement won't last.

"I think they're actually undermining their own interests and the interests of other public servants."