Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 November 2016
18. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which the Lansdowne Road agreement in respect of public expenditure remains intact; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36538/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe question is self-explanatory. It relates to the extent to which the Lansdowne Road agreement remains intact and will be a key feature of pay negotiations which are likely to take place in the future.
As the Deputy heard me say in previous replies, I believe the Lansdowne Road agreement will be a central element to how we manage public pay in 2017 and 2018. With all of the understandable focus on the current challenges in public service pay, we should not lose sight of the fact that more than 20 unions have signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement. More than 200,000 public and civil servants are inside it. That is the very reason I take this issue so seriously and why I am engaging with the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. I am doing so because I believe strongly that a collective approach to how we manage public pay is an essential element of how a small open economy such as Ireland will be able to respond to the volatility we see and the type of challenge to which Deputy Tommy P. Broughan referred earlier.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive replies to this and related questions. What is the extent to which he is satisfied he can continue the progress made in recent years, albeit with great sacrifice, and at the same time reward those who have made such sacrifices to try to keep the strategy on the straight and narrow for the future?
It is a significant challenge. We have the challenge of meeting the expectations of citizens with the money availabile from the State to actually meet them, whether it be increased wages, quality public services or infrastructure. The only way we can do this is by looking to make steady and incremental progress in all of these areas concurrently because what we cannot do is make a big leap forward in one area at the expense of progress in others. That is why the Lansdowne Road agreement and other collective wage agreements are so important. They certainty add to our ability to manage the public pay bill. The benefits are both ways. For unions inside collective wage agreements such as the Landowne Road agreement, they confer benefits on their members and those leading the unions in terms of their ability to plan their agendas and raise issues about which they may have concerns such as job security. We used the Haddington Road and Croke Park agreements to reach agreement on these matters in what were some very difficult years for the country.
I thank the Minister for his reply. On the basis of progress made to date, is he satisfied that it is likely the economy will remain as competitive as it was in the coming four or five years?
That will be a key consideration for the Government in how it plans for public pay rates in the future. As the Deputy knows well, wage rates in one part of the economy have consequences for competitiveness elsewhere. This is included in the terms of reference of the Public Service Pay Commission. The future competitiveness of the country is an issue on which the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, is leading on behalf of the Government. I am confident that Ireland will be able to retain its competitiveness in the coming years, but I do not believe it will be possible to make the progress we have made in recent years without further changes and big decisions being made.
There was positive momentum from other developments in the global economy that added to and supported the great work done here at home. The two things, put together, allowed the economy to move forward at a pace that would have appeared unthinkable in 2009, 2010 and 2011. These global conditions are clearly changing, which is why we have to be so careful about decisions we are now making.
