Taoiseach raises prospect of public service job looses

The Taoiseach has raised the prospect of redundancies in the public service saying workers cannot have the full protection of employment without the ‘Croke Park II’ deal.
The coalition is adamant that 300 million in savings have to be found this year. A Dáil vote today will see estimates including the savings pushed through.
The Chief Executive of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) has been asked to engage with unions to see if there is a basis for fresh talks.
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin is now pushing through the estimates in the Dáil saying they are about more than just the savings.
“I don’t believe that govenrment services should be shut down because we still have no final agreement in relation to the apportionment of some pay” said.
“I made a decision to publish the estimates – which are based on the implementation of the Labour Relations Commission recommendations, because that is what we anticipated the positron would be”.
“The recommendations were a fair and appropriate means of achieving the savings required” he added.