Croke Park Agreement 'saved €689m in first year': Union

The Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) has said the Croke Park Agreement is working.

The union, which represents executive grades in the Civil Service and the wider public sector, is holding its annual conference in Kilkenny over the next two days.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin will address the union's delegates in Kilkenny on Friday.

PSEU general secretary Tom Geraghty said the Croke Park Agreement is delivering savings.

"It has delivered €689m in savings in its first year...By the time we complete the Agreement in 2014, the saving on the public-service pay bill will be of the order of €3.8bn," he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, and contingent on delivery of the savings outlined in it, the Government gave commitments to serving public servants including:

- No further reductions in their pay rates, other than those applied in 2009 and 2010;

- No compulsory redundancies (where they do not currently apply) as long as public servants are flexible about redeployment;

- An extension of the period within which the January 2010 pay reductions are disregarded for the purposes of calculating pensions, to February 2012;

- A review of the position on public service pay in the spring of each year of the Agreement.