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SINCE ITS INCEPTION two years ago there has been much said and much written about the Croke Park Agreement by those closely linked to it such as politicians, trade union leaders and ordinary workers in the public service.
But while there has been much talk of increments, redundancies, and reforms there are some who are still a bit confused as to just what exactly the agreement is all about.
Recently we were asked by some readers to explain what the agreement entails, why it is so important, and what it means on a wider level for the country, its economy and its workers. We’re a pretty obliging bunch here at TheJournal.ie, so here’s what you need to know…
What on earth is the Croke Park Agreement?
What will now and forever (or at least until the end of this piece) be known as the CPA is an agreement reached by the government and the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) as well as the Garda and Defence Forces representative associations in June 2010 i.e. public sector workers.
Officially known as the Public Service Agreement – but given the name because of the venue where negotiations took place (in its conference facilities as opposed to on the field!) – it runs from 2010 to 2014 and is broadly a commitment by the public service to “change the way it does business” and in return there is a commitment from the government that there will be no reductions in pay rates or compulsory redundancies within the public sector.
Excluding those who work in semi-state companies like the ESB there are just over 334,000 people working in the public sector which accounts for just under a fifth of the current workforce in Ireland. That makes the agreement a pretty significant one within the Irish labour market.
Okay but what does “changing the way it does business” mean?
Effectively it means that public servants and their managers are required, under the agreement, to work together to change the way in which the public service operates so as that it does so with less money and less staff but more efficiently.
The idea is that while there is less money and less staff the level of service from the public sector does not fall and in some cases it is hoped the level of service can be improved. The primary goal, as it was when the agreement was reached pre-bailout, is to get the budget deficit below 3 per cent of gross domestic product by 2014 and this effectively requires a significant reduction in the number of people working in the public service.
So if we look at health for example, the idea would be that even if there are fewer doctors, fewer nurses and less money for management in the health sector to operate with there would be a change in the way they work to ensure that the same level of service continues. Similarly this would be the case in education where fewer teachers, and less money would still mean that pupils and students would get the same level of education.
The same would theoretically apply in all areas of the public service such as the gardaí – where we know that station numbers are being cut - emergency services and the overall civil service. This also all ties in with the current government’s wider reform agenda with Health Minister James Reilly looking to radically overhaul the provision of health services in Ireland, as just one example.
Hold on, but 2010 was when the last lot were in power?
That’s right. This agreement was reached in the final months of the Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition government but had broad cross-party support and the current government has pledged to honour the CPA particularly given many of the unions involved in it would have an affiliation to the Labour Party. As recently as April, the Tánaiste and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said of the CPA: “An agreement is made, you honour the agreement.”
The programme for government commits to reducing staff levels in the public sector by between 18,000 and 21,000 by 2014 compared to the total number at the end of 2010.
So we’re in 2012, halfway through the deal. How has it been working so far?
Well so far we’ve had two annual reports into the deal and how it is being implemented which have claimed that savings of €600 million were made across the public service in the first year and €920 million in the second year. That brings you to around €1.5 billion in total which has been saved so far across the public sector.
Staff numbers have been reduced by 17,300 in those two years which include the exodus of more than 8,000 staff in the early part of this year under an early-retirement scheme. You may remember that was causing particular concern about what contingency plans were in place to deal with these departures and the potential effect on frontline services. There was a lot of talk of redeployment of workers in areas where there would be the type of losses than might impact services.
On top of that we had one of the country’s leading economists Colm McCarthy bemoaning the government’s handling of the retirements as well as criticising the public service pension scheme which he said is underfunded and akin to a “Ponzi scheme”.
But aside from that the two reports so far have indicated the in broad terms the agreement is working and functioning as it was intended. The public service was “doing more with less” the Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin said at the publication of the second review by CPA Implementation Body recently.
So it’s working fairly well. What should we be worried about?
Well broadly the CPA is working, yes, but there are a myriad of concerns from both the government and the public sector trade unions and representative groups as to whether the CPA as it stands is sustainable for another two years.
Unions such as the country’s largest, SIPTU, are worried about the effect the deal is having on low-paid workers which they believe are being disproportionally affected by roster changes, redeployment, extended working days and loss of allowances.
On the other side of the table, business repesentative groups such as Chambers Ireland have voiced concerns that the deal is not delivering enough savings given the deficit which for the first half of this year was around €9.4 billion. Some within government have also raised concerns about the deal.
Chief among them are the Transport Minister and Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar who caused controversy in two instances last month. First he suggested that there should be compulsory redundancies in situations where a State agency or quango is closed down. The CPA specifically states that compulsory redundancies will not apply within the public service.
He also suggested that pay increments should be deferred saying that it could save as much as €200 million a year. The CPA makes no mention specifically of increments but commits to there being no further reductions in the pay rates of serving public servants for the lifetime of the agreement.
Unions would view increments as being part of pay rates and also argue that such a reduction in increments would hit the low-paid disproportionately. They also think that allowances, which were in the news this week, are protected under the agreement and cannot be touched by the government. Some teaching unions have gone as far as to say that they will ballot for industrial action if they are cut in anyway.
Given the economic situation, surely Varadkar is not being unreasonable in suggesting some changes?
Well it should be noted that the CPA came about after two years where €3 billion had been saved from the public service pay and pensions bill with a considerable effect on the public service. This came about through pay increases due that were not paid, a general moratorium on recruitment and promotion, a pension related deduction of, on average, 7 per cent applied to all public servants’ earnings and a reduction in rates of pay at the beginning of 2010.
From a public service worker’s point of view they made significant sacrifices leading up to the deal and have agreed to significant sacrifices in the deal whereby they are committing to doing more with less staff and less money at their disposal. In return they will keep their jobs and their pay rates which for some, worried about Ireland’s deficit and the overall efficiency of the public service, is not sacrifice enough.
Those who question the effectiveness of the CPA cite the annual bill for sick leave of around €26 million and the myriad of public service allowances that were disclosed this week and think that more needs to be done to cut the cost of Ireland’s public service.
What does the public think?
In April an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll found that the majority of the public wanted the deal either renegotiated or abolished. The opinion poll found that 16 per cent believe the deal should remain in place, 43 per cent want it modified in some way, and 22 per cent want it abolished. But nearly a fifth (19 per cent) have no opinion at all on the deal.
Those who were polled are likely to have varying reasons for wanting the deal to be altered in some way. Some believe that as it stands, the CPA is not delivering enough savings in the public service and that more needs to be done in terms of there being a provision for redundancies and for pay rates to be cut.
Others believe that the deal as it is structured now is not fair on the low-paid workers in the public sector in that the changes that are coming into effect are more likely to affect those on lower wages than those earning higher salaries.
So clearly there are issues, disagreements and splits but what’s going to happen?
The deal has another two years to run. While there will no doubt be plenty of talk about it in the months and years ahead the official line for the moment remains that the government is committed to it as long as the unions are committed to it too. The unions will maintain the line that the agreement must be preserved while holding the threat of industrial action and possible strike if it is not.
Speaking in the Dáil recently, Brendan Howlin – whose responsibility it is it to oversee the implentation of the agreement – said: “So long as Croke Park and the unions signed up to it deliver their side of the bargain, the government is committed to delivering its side.”
Politically, there is a strong feeling within the Labour Party that the agreement needs to be honoured. While on the face of it there is also a commitment from Fine Gael to the deal there is, as evidenced by the comments of a senior party figure like Varadkar, a belief that the agreement may need to be revisited. At the very least there is a frustration with the limits it puts on reform of the public service among some in the senior coalition party in that there can be no sackings or pay cuts.
Despite a series of austerity laden budgets and unemployment this week hitting just short of 15 per cent there has been little in terms of industrial strife in Ireland. Unlike Greece, people here have not been on the streets in their masses and that has a lot to do with the presence of the CPA which accounts not only for significant portion of the workforce but just under half of those in the workforce that are members of unions.
And for that reason the success of the Croke Park Agreement will be largely dependent on the success, or not, of the economy in the months and years ahead.
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This is tyranny
@Gavin Nicholson: which do you prefer, tyranny or hooked up to a ventilator, gasping for your life
@Gavin Nicholson: People are free to get vaccinated if they choose. Everyone has the same choice. There’s nothing tyrannical about it.
@Gavin Nicholson: no it isn’t. These people made a choice not to be vaccinated. Choices have consequences.
@Drunk in Dublin: Where does the choice argument end though? How about when this is all over move on to the obese who choose to ram fast food down their throat on a regular basis? How about we control what they eat as their choice has huge impacts on the health system.
And don’t bother with the childish “but obesity isn’t contagious” argument because one thing has nothing to do with the other. I’m talking about choices that impact the health system. You think choices have consequences, you’re right, but why should those choices just relate to Covid and the vaccine.
If we’re serious about easing pressure in the health system then let’s get serious.
@JedBartlett: nothing “childish” about the argument that obesity etc. Isn’t contagious. Just because you don’t like that argument doesn’t make it less valid. People are refusing to take a medically proven veccine because of crap they’re being fed by anti vax nut jobs. And so they are putting other people’s lives at risk. It’s really that simple. If we are to get out of this pandemic then vaccines are the only way to do it in the short term. We won’t have the same issues here because Austrias vaccine take up is miles behind ours.
@JedBartlett: this is all about the risk that these people pose to others. Simple as. it’s got everything to do with transmission and facilitating the prevalence and mutation of the disease.
@Gavin Nicholson: you’re obviously unfamiliar with the meaning of tube word.
@Stiofán Gearoid De Priondárgas:
Glad I don’t live in a country where you make the rules.
These are unvaccinated people not subhumans to be let die in a ditch.
@Gavin Nicholson: Tyrany / Fascism call it what you want. Next they will be painting red X’s on the unvaccinated’s doors
@Alan Campbell: I would prefer anything before tyranny. Do you believe there are circumstances where tyranny is acceptable?
@Declan Doherty: People were free to get vaccinated. That is not the case anymore. Now they are being coerced. That is why it’s tyrannical.
@GrumpyAulFella: please check your facts. Transmission rates amongst the vaccinated are now higher than the unvaccinated. Therefore the vaccinated are posing a greater risk to others. This is probably due to a more cavalier approach to social distancing and because they are not subjected to segregation.
@Bríann O Connor: I am. I tried googling ‘tube word’. Nothing came up. What does it mean and how is it relevant?
@Gavin Nicholson: I don’t think tyranny means what you think it means. You’re free to get vaccinated just as you’re also free not to get vaccinated. Both of these choices come with consequences. You may not like the consequences of either choice but that’s not tyranny, that’s just life. If we had mandatory vaccinations you might have a point but we don’t and the fact that you can choose not to get vaccinated despite the additional risks that creates for everyone else, very much proves that this isn’t tyranny. On the contrary, you seem to have no idea how lucky you have it.
@Gavin Nicholson:
Sorry but that is just not true… Before you answer let’s consider:
93% of adult population vaccinated
Unvaccinated are far younger
That doesn’t stack well when a few weeks ago 56% of new cases was among unvaccinated… that is way above the statiscal equal margin
@Gavin Nicholson: FREEDUMB.
@Gavin Nicholson: The good of the many in the face of this pandemic come before the few.
@Davey Ohanlon: Not sub human but definitely missing a few marbles!!
@Gavin Nicholson: it is not tyranny. If you decide to break the social pact – that is the consequence of your “disobedience”. For decades generations have been vaccinated without choice and thanks to that very severe illnesses had been defeated. The madness of refusing vaccine caused many of those diseases to come back. Now, you are given a choice: no vaccine no unlimited freedom. No driving license no driving. Simples. You make your choices… grow up
@Gavin Nicholson: where do you get these stats. Stop making stuff up: you are contributing to misinformation and making the situation worse. Irresponsible behaviour driven by complete lack of rational abilities. Centuries of science thrown in the bin due to superstition and perverse logic
@Gavin Nicholson: link? Stats?
Stopped on the street to present your papers. Hmmmm
@Dave Harris:
Won’t be stopped on street but would be entering a pub…
All scientific proof points to the vaccine being the way forward for us to being able to return to normal life while protecting our healthcare system.
If you don’t want to get vaccinated that is your choice but the rest of society doesn’t have to suffer because of your choice.
If you are unvaccinated you have taken the choice of lockdowns and restrictions until the pandemic has passed (looking like years). The rest of us can try and get back to normal life…
@Cowboy Ted: why would you assume I’m anti vax? I’m not, fully vaxxed. But if covid is going to be with us for years, I feel that these knee jerk reactions are not helpful.
@Dave Harris:
I don’t know your views on getting the vaccine or not and I didn’t presume your status in my answers.
This is not a knee jerk reaction but following the guidelines we have schools. It is not mandared but it is very strongly advised. Education is a right in Ireland and that is pribably why not mandared…
The information is clear and the only reason not to get it is misinformation. Even pure selfishness would lead a person to getting it now. The numbers are pretty clear.
So if someone doesn’t want it, then there will be nobody forcing them to take it but by not taking it you have to take other measures to protect others and protect yourself… But they are welcome to live under lockdown conditions but don’t expect the rest of us to join them…
Get vaccinated simple.
@Seamus Mc Hugh: so.. say this works and they get their vaccination rate up as high as we have here. What then? It hasn’t solved it here.
Taking away peoples freedom to force them to be injected with something they don’t want in their body would be expected in North Korea or maybe China. But in Europe… I’m astonished and scared so should you be.
@Seamus Mc Hugh: Public hospitals should be closed to unvaccinated who get sick from COVID.
It’s their decision and we should respect it. Open up completely. What would it matter if they bear ALL THE COSTS to themselves? Exactly what the US is doing. A €300,000 hospital ICU bill is a great leveller.
@john doe:
90% was for Alpha, Delta is a different kettle of fish…
By the way, can you give us the epidemiologist from Ireland who said the vaccine was the silver bullet that would solve everything? Please show us with evidence…
@Michael Cunningham: Why not set up a separate hospital for Covid patients?
@Michael Cunningham: The US is simply price gouging and pricing people out of basic health care. There are several diabetic people in the US who can no longer afford insulin. That’s not a country I’d want to live in. There’s nothing great about that. The US is all about large profits. They haven’t contained the virus well at all. I wouldn’t look to them as some triumphal example. Too many people have died of this.
@Michael Cunningham: It would be great to see them have to back up there beliefs with real$$$$$$
@Fiona Fitzgerald: The antivaxxers can open 10 hospitals for themselves for all I care. Their choice, their consequences. They pay 100% of it.
You are correct – the Americans don’t have all the answers. But at some stage you need to live by your decisions and let the rest of us move on.
At some point you’re punishing those who believe in science just to enable those who don’t.
Give an end date to the free vaccines. The surplus gets handed to developing nations. If you’re not vaccinated by now, you never will.
Is this what our world has come to? Forced to get vaccinated or become a social outcast! You couldn’t make it up.
@Susan McMahon: when your choice to not get vaccinated puts other people at risk because you are taking up valuable ICU beds needed for non covid patients then you should have deal with the consequences.
@Sam Harms: I know a few people who aren’t vaccinated. None of them are taking up valuable ICU beds.
@Roy Dowling: yeah but this is here to stay. The longer they remain unvaccinated and as their natural immune system wanes the more chance they have of taking up a bed when they inevitably contract this thing. We can’t outrun it at the moment. Take the only protection that exists.
@Sam Harms: heres my issue and your comment sums it right up. Your blaming those not vaccinated, taking up ICU beds. Do you recall the countless promises from Gov to buck up our health system? Has it happened in years previous? No. 0% improvement, actually its only got worse. We face this crisis every year with the flu, do you want to outkast the population now for not taking a flu vaccine or are they allowed use one of your ICU beds? Do you recall the gov asking those living abroad medically trained to come home and help? Did they all get jobs? No. Do you recall the promises of extra ICU beds and equipment being sought? Did that happen? No. They done NOTHING. NOTHING to improve our system so dont go finger pointing those needing ICU beds.
@Sam Harms: you don’t know everyone’s reasons, you can be vaccinated and still need an ICU bed. This same old game of pitching all of us against each other is working out great for the FFG parties. It means we dont point the finger in the right direction to them for not even providing 1 extra ICU bed in a global pandemic. Im vaccinated, done my part, stayed home, away from family, wear my mask but I will NEVER refuse anybody health care. Disgusting to see the attitude people have taken against others based on their personal decisions. This vaccine is proving to be more a less worthless & never ending roundabout. We can still catch and spread, need an ICU bed, having it may lessen chances and symptoms but nobody is choosing to get sick, we should all be respectful of each others choices.
@GrumpyAulFella: I’m fully vaccinated and COVID recovered. Still doesn’t give me the right to be tell others to get vaccinated and tell them there taking the choice to take a valuable ICU. Out of yesterdays figure who tested positive. How many were unvaccinated and ended up in ICU?
@Christine Hanway: actually they have increased ICU beds and they are recruiting additional staff but ICU is a highly specialised area that not every nurse can work in. If you are vaccinated you are far less likely to end up in ICU, that’s a fact. And I’m not talking about people who genuinely can’t get the vaccine I’m referring to people who are choosing not to. Also the people I know who aren’t vaccinated have zero regard for covid guidelines and have ignored them all along.
@Christine Hanway:
So you think the problem about lack ICU beds was lack of will by the government?
They were all sitting around and said I couldn’t be bothered…
ICU staff are highly trained and aren’t just walking around the place looking for a job in the last 20 months…
Love these so called FFG tags, when what it is politicising the pandemic… Mainly from Sinners who’s performance in NI has been terrible…
@Christine Hanway: you make me want to puke.
@Cowboy Ted: nonsense. It’s from far right loons who are anti everything.
@Sam Harms: & i know people who are not vaccinated & they wear masks, wash hands, socially distance….
@Fergus Lynch: make sure you have a basin handy so….
@Roy Dowling: Yet!!
@Hear me now: ……and end up occupying many more hospital beds and ventilators than they should based on their % of the population…..
@Susan McMahon: another cherry picking member of society. I want all benefits and none of the duties or less palatable aspects of the social contract. Go live on a deserted island.
@Roy Dowling: ah well then there is no problem just because you and your acquaintances do not have the problem. Are you the centre of the universe and the fountain of knowledge? Perhaps when you close your eyes the world doesn’t exist??? Jesus some that’s some logic !!!!
@Roy Dowling: We should respect their decision not to get vaccinated and move on.
That said, they must live with their decision. If they get sick, you’re hospital bill is not covered. You pay. 100%. Risking bankruptcy and homelessness is a great incentive. Put your money where your mouth is.
Should be the same everywhere.
@Colleen: Be careful what you wish for.
@Colleen: No it shouldnt. People have a choice.
@Roy Dowling: Your personal freedom ends where it is affecting others around you
@Roy Dowling: They have and let them make it but if it goes wrong for them it should cost them$$$
Huh. Rants about people having to wear yellow stars don’t seem that nuts anymore.
@Gerard Carthy: Yes they do. Nuts, distasteful, and igņorant.
@Gerard Carthy: false equivalency and the fact you can’t see that just goes to show how ignorant this comment is.
@Gerard Carthy: Have you ever researched The Holocaust, or any genocide in history?
@David A. Murray: of course they haven’t. Nobody that had researched such an atrocity would ever dream of saying something like that. It’s about as repugnant a statement as someone can make, but as soon as they do make it, they’ve outed themselves, so at least it’s handy in that way. Just get vaccinated people. Anti vaccination is a really stupid hill to literally die on.
@Gerard Carthy:
Getting the Vaccine is a choice, ignorance is also a choice.
This is simple case of choice and consequences… I will point out that we have compulsory vaccines for schools to protect all children. Education is far bigger right than going to the pub or gym.
@Bill Spill: unfortunately the austrian nation has a bit of history in this.
@Gerard Carthy: 100% Lots of people here are in favour of yellow stars and gulags for the jabby dodgers , just remember how this tyranny all started.
@Gerard Carthy: They’re trying to contain the latest outbreak. People won’t be shunned or deported or refused treatment for being human beings.
Look, people forget that a cult of selective euthanasia and compulsory sterilisation began in the USA before it ever spread to Nazi Germany. Some Americans have always been racist, are class-conscious and lean towards health fascism. Luckily not all, nor most. Naturally they’re wary of a lot that played out in an ugly & murderous way in their own political history.
But Austria’s measures to contain the latest outbreak of Covid-19 is a genuine public health service. It isn’t a way to discriminate between people and cull the “losers”. It’s pushing back against the Delta strain so their hospitals don’t end up like Italy in the first wave.
@Sidney Cooper: nut job
I hope our government will take the same approach. It’s going on too long now.
@PJ Beatty: Dont be giving our crowd any ideas now
@PJ Beatty: I don’t think it will be necessary here. We’re well ahead when it comes to vaccine take up and well behind Austria when it comes to mortality rate. Actually if you look at all European countries we’re well behind most of them for death rates. The boosters are really driving down serious illness in Israel and hopefully will do the same here in the next month or two.
@PJ Beatty: No it shouldn’t.
We are entering dictatorship same as communism be very careful what you wish for.
@brendan o connell: My eye. Covid patients will be treated in public hospitals as anyone should be. They’re doing their best to support anyone who comes down with it. I’ve no time either for the few here who want to fine everyone for catching a disease. It’s a disease, not a crime. Do you think the UK are dictators for keeping rabies out? Should people not worry about leprosy or bubonic plague any more because hospitals exist? They’ve lost over eleven thousand people to Covid. Naturally they want to contain it.
This is a great idea.
@Teresa O’Halloran: Not surprised you’re a fan. You’re the same person who wanted everyone on south William street water canoned earlier in the year.
@Teresa O’Halloran: you’re scary!
I have the fear after a few drinks to many at the weekend and this is not helping. Scary stuff whatever end of the debate you find you find yourself on. Stay safe everybody and remember we are all human and flawed individuals. Listen to one another
@Modern Irish Dad: listen to one another he says, after refusing to listen to scientists. Being ‘flawed’ isn’t an excuse. These anti vaxxers are self!sh and !gnorant, simple as.
Any sane person will carry on as normal
@Sidney Cooper: Don’t be a sheep Sydney.
This is tyrany /fascism, call it what you want. Next step will be identifying the un vaccinated by painting red X’s on their doors.
@Rhoda Cunningham: I don’t think it’s the same, no.
The difference between the Austrian measures and the US is in how humanely they treat people who are unlucky enough to fall ill without being wealthy.
People will receive treatment in Europe – without being impoverished and made homeless in the process. Austria is making a genuine decision to contain their latest outbreak. They aren’t refusing to treat patients.
Stopped in the street & demands to show papers, hhhhmmmmm History repeating itself
Your personal freedom ends where your actions or inactions are affecting others. What’s your thought?
@Johannes Baader: So everyones personal freedom are ended by your logic. Fully vaccinated people can still effect others. I was fully vaccinated and I got the virus from my fully vaccinated wife.
@Johannes Baader: I agree. People have been screened in the US for public health for years. People get screening for other contagious diseases when they’re getting married. I donate blood and of course it’s tested before they supply it to a sick patient. There are plenty of notifiable diseases that aren’t allowed to spread to other people. I wouldn’t expect the freedom of Ireland if I were going around spreading TB.
Very Austrian of them.
@Diana Muller: waiting for jackboots on the street with unvaccinated being rounded up and put into ghettos.
@brendan o connell: With all the idle talk here about denying people public health care, and wishing to force them to pay more if they catch a virus, that’s more likely to happen here in Ireland. If we aren’t in favour of democracy and funding public hospitals, that is.
I’ve heard more here about denial of choice from people who are afraid of a jab and who want to prevent their children from ever having a vaccine dose. They don’t want their younger family members to have any choice. To me, that’s sinister. This outbreak is liable to spread indoors more in winter. Fact. Austria has the right to make an effort to contain the spread. If some people don’t want to get a jab there, they can. They don’t need to be selfish about it or pretend it’s not spreading.
Proper order and I wish we’d do the same here. Nobody wants another lockdown, so if this means that the unvaccinated have to sit at home, so be it.
@The Firestarter: why stop at home? Can we not round them all up and put them in some form of camps?…
@The Firestarter: Place for them. Sit quietly and enjoy their free choice in peace!!
Good call
As a famous son of Austria used to say, Lockdown Macht Frei. OK it might not have been exactly that but it was the same general idea.
Simple solution. Lock ‘em all up.
@Jon Kelly: seek help!
Maybe they should protest outside Tesco!
@Niamh Brady: I have a feeling something like ‘mostly peaceful protests’ will start kicking off in Austria now. I believe their government have gone way to far with this!
Brilliant to see a government taking decisive action. Watch their numbers improve over the next 30 days. Ireland take note!!!
have your say