As far as the development of a third banking force is concerned, the Deputy will be aware two Building Societies have recently announced their intention to commence merger talks. In these circumstances where significant commercial considerations apply, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the matter.
With regard to the question of pay roll savings, the discussions with the Public Service Unions to date concentrated on the measures to be implemented to achieve the necessary immediate savings in the Public Service pay and pensions bill in 2010. In response to the request of the Public Service Unions in that context, the Government outlined a medium term vision for the public service over the next five years. The vision document identifies significant revised sectoral, and cross-sectoral, work practices and other initiatives which would contribute to achieving efficiencies and improving productivity in the use of resources in the medium term.
The structural, productivity and efficiency improvements will be necessary to facilitate the maintenance of service standards as public service numbers reduce due to retirements and the application of the moratorium. As the payroll savings will largely arise from the overall reduction in public service numbers, payroll savings from the vision document have not been separately costed on an individual basis.
