The Public Service Agreement, 2010-2014, contains a commitment "to introduce significantly improved performance management across all Public Service areas, and following the current review, the Performance Management and Development System will be strengthened with promotion and incremental progression linked in all cases to performance and the implementation of appropriate systems to address under-performance, including, where appropriate, training or, where necessary, through disciplinary procedures". I wish to assure the Deputy that my Department is fully committed to implementation of this Agreement through the use of the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) in managing the performance, career and development needs of each staff member. PMDS links directly into the Department's Human Resource processes and is used for all decisions in relation to increments, promotion competitions and higher scale posts.