Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 November 2011
20 Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the next review of the Croke Park agreement will be published; if this will be published before budget 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35130/11]
View answerParagraph 1.16 of the Public Service, or Croke Park, agreement provides for an annual review of the sustainable savings generated from the implementation of the Agreement and of the agreements in each sector.
As the Deputy will recall, the Implementation Body for the Agreement conducted the first such review last May. The Body's Report which was published last June reported that sustainable pay bill savings of €289m had been achieved in the first year of the Agreement, March 2010 to March 2011. It also reported that "solid and measurable" progress was being made on implementing the Action Plans in each sector, while pointing to certain issues that needed to be accelerated over the next reporting period.
The next annual review of the Agreement is scheduled to take place in Spring 2012 and I expect that the Report arising from that review will be published in May or June next year.
As an interim measure between annual reviews, the Implementation Body last month asked for a 6-monthly update from all sectors on the progress made in implementing sectoral Action Plans during the period April to September 2011. The Body has been considering these reports in recent weeks and is today publishing on its website a summary of the progress reported in each sector.
