€1bn gravy train - Public sector perks must be reformed

The charade of the botched government bid to save money by reducing controversial perks and allowances for workers travelling on the public sector gravy train has taken a significant twist with today’s front-page report that thousands of state employees received more than €1bn in overtime and allowances last year.

Following its embarrassing climb down on reforming the public service, the Coalition aims to abolish 88 allowances but, as revealed by the Irish Examiner, that will achieve savings of just over €30m.

It is a far cry from the €75m target originally set by Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin and a drop in the ocean compared with the enormous sums identified in today’s report.

Dispelling any lingering doubts about the sheer scale of overtime pay and allowances, a breakdown of official figures across 34 government departments and agencies in the annual accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General shows that last year’s earnings were boosted throughout the public service by an average of €8,862 involving a series of allowances and overtime payments.

It also emerges that 22,000 payments of €10,000 or more were made to thousands of workers on top of their salaries in 2011. Astonishingly, while the average maximum individual payment was almost €32,000, one anonymous employee in the ailing HSE received a whopping €153,250 on top of his or her salary.

These are the kind of figures that families struggling to pay mortgages and put bread on the table can only dream about.

On top of those sums, the HSE paid €11.6m in “salary and interviewer payments to retired HSE staff” in 2011. It appears that payments for freelance services provided by ex-personnel are widespread across public service departments and agencies.

Despite requests from the powerful Public Accounts Committee, which represents the interests of citizens, the number of HSE workers on allowances remains something of a mystery. In an organisation that accounts for around half of the €1bn paid out in overtime and allowances, there is an urgent need for more accurate figures.

The dense fog surrounding the HSE should not be used to obfuscate this issue, especially with suspicion rife that highly paid officials eat a far bigger slice of the allowance cake than more needy low-paid staff.

Bearing responsibility for public service reform, Mr Howlin should know by now that this vexed issue will not go away. Last month, he ended up with egg on his face over singling out just one allowance to be cut from over 1,000, saving a miserly €3.5m.

A looming battle with the trade unions will increase tensions between Fine Gael and Labour. Yet the Government must jettison costly and inappropriate allowances. It is a fight the Coalition cannot afford to lose if reform is to have any real meaning.

Set against a depressing backdrop of endless job losses and savage pay cuts in the private sector, the worrying picture that emerges from the Auditor General’s annual accounts confirms perceptions of a pampered public service and will further widen the yawning gulf between private sector workers and their counterparts in the public service where perks, pensions and pay are protected by a Croke Park agreement in urgent need of radical overhaul.