IMPACT’s long-running campaign to open up civil service promotion procedures has succeeded, with the publication of a new circular, which confirms that any civil servant with the necessary skills, experience and attributes can compete for any promotion advertised.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform confirmed last summer that this was civil service policy. But IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the publication of the circular removes any doubt or discretion over its application.

The old system of restricting eligibility for promotion to staff in the same grading stream consistently discriminated against staff in technical and administrative grades and others.

A requirement to have at least two years service remains in place. But the circular confirms that staff on fixed-term contracts can also compete for promotions, in the same way as comparable permanent staff, if they have two years continuous or aggregate service.

IMPACT members working in Aer Lingus and the Dublin and Shannon airport authorities have been advised to expect a ballot on industrial action in the near future.

The union’s national secretary Matt Staunton says this is because of the employers’ failure to reach agreement on how to address a serious deficit in the Irish Aviation Pension Scheme (IAPS), which covers staff in all three companies. Talks aimed at finding a solution have taken place over the last three years without success.

Matt wrote to all cabin crew and IAESA branch members this month, advising that unless Aer Lingus and DAA come up with new rescue proposals for the pension scheme, along with pay proposals for this year, the union would have to commence a ballot seeking a mandate for what he described as “serious industrial action.”

Last October the pension trustees issued a set of proposals, which included further cuts of about 34% in pension benefits. The Pensions Board has expressed its reluctance to accept the timeframes for eliminating the deficit, which have been proposed by the trustees. Further and final feedback is expected from the Pensions Board shortly.

The quality of Ireland’s public administration is above the EU average and there are signs of quality improvements, according to a new report from the Institute of Public Administration (IPA). Its latest annual report on public sector trends says service improvements have been achieved at a time of staffing cuts, tight controls on resources, and a growing population placing increasing demands on services.

“To register some improvements in the quality of public services compared to other European countries in the current circumstances is no small feat,” it says.

The IPA report examines the size and cost of the public sector as well as the quality and efficiency of services compared to other EU countries. Among its conclusions, it says:

• Ireland’s score on traditional public service values of independence from political interference, freedom from bribery and corruption, and reliability and administrative fairness has improved in each of the last three years.
• In 2011, Ireland came 11th among 28 EU countries in World Bank rankings of government effectiveness.
• In 2013, Ireland ranked 9th on the effective implementation of government decisions.
• Surveys of business executives rank our public administration above the European average with Ireland ranking 5th on this indicator.
• Ireland continues to do relatively well when measuring the impact of public administration on the ability of companies to do business, with the efficiency of the tax regime performing particularly well. However Ireland’s ranking fell slightly in 2012 as performance improved across Europe.

The report found that satisfaction with public services varies significantly by sector. Satisfaction with the Irish education system and schools is the highest in Europe, whereas satisfaction with the quality of health care is below the European average. Confidence in the justice system and courts is quite high, while confidence in the police is around the European average. Although the level of trust in Irish regional and local authorities is increasing, it remains low compared to most European countries.

Size and cost

The report says the size and cost of the Irish public sector has fallen considerably since 2010. At 42% of GDP, Ireland’s public spending is significantly below the European average. Expenditure per head of population has also fallen significantly. In 2012, it fell below 2007 levels at just under €15,000 per person.

Public servants made up 16.4% of the labour force in 2011, placing Ireland in the middle grouping of European countries. Staff reductions have hit some sectors significantly more than others. The biggest proportionate drop has been in the non-commercial state agencies (21%) and local authorities (18%), but there have been relatively small reductions in education (4%) and the civil service (7%).

The report confirms that expenditure on public service pay and pensions has decreased from €18.7 billion in 2008 to €16.6 billion in 2013. Average weekly public sector earnings have fallen by €47.88 (5%) compared with a decrease of €2.41 (0.4%) in the private sector.

Dublin Community TV’s film The Inquiry is to feature at the Jameson Dublin international film festival. The dramatisation of the Askwith Inquiry, which took place during the 1913 Lockout, will be screened at the Lighthouse cinema in Dublin’s Smithfield at 12.30pm on Saturday 22^nd February.

On 29 September 1913 trade unionist Jim Larkin and industrial magnate William Martin Murphy came face to face for the first time in an attempt to bring an end to the Lockout, which had been underway for several weeks.

The film features Bosco Hogan as Murphy and Stephen Murray as Larkin in a docu-drama that brings to life the dramatic events of that encounter, when the two most notorious figures in Irish public life hurled accusations at one another in front of the international press.

Turlough Kelly’s script draws on British parliamentary reports and contemporary newspapers to provide a gripping account of events, including Connolly’s famous statement of the workers’ case.

Read more HERE.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has criticised the Taoiseach and trade minister Richard Bruton for failing to raise human rights concerns during a recent trade delegation to various gulf states. In a letter to the Taoiseach, ICTU general secretary David Begg said the official delegation should have used the opportunity to draw attention to rights abuses in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Although he recognised the importance of trade discussions, Begg said he was disappointed at the Taoiseach’s statement that the talks were “not an appropriate forum to raise human rights concerns.”

There have been serious and widespread human rights violations in all three of the countries visited, including breaches of international labour conventions.

A commemoration acknowledging Jim Larkin’s unique contribution to Irish trade unionism takes place at his grave in Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetery at 11am on Sunday 2^nd February, the anniversary of his funeral in 1947. SIPTU president Jack O’Connor will lay a wreath and make an oration. This will be followed by a dramatic performance by award-winning theatre company ANU Productions.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody has welcomed a commitment in the Government’s new public service reform plan for 2014-2016, which says resources saved through more efficient service delivery can be reinvested in improved public services. The next stage of the Government’s reform plan was published last week along with the second progress report on the Government’s previous plan, which outlined cost reductions, increased productivity and service improvements achieved since 2011.

The new plan highlights the objective of achieving a ‘reform dividend,’ a phrase first coined last October when public service reform minister Brendan Howlin announced plans for limited new public service recruitment on foot of savings achieved under the Croke Park deal. It says: “There will be an emphasis on saving to invest. This is about freeing up resources by making existing processes more cost effective and efficient, and using the savings to invest in new or improved services.”

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said it was significant that the plan says savings can be reinvested in improved public services. “This is a small but significant shift from the approach over the last five years, where all savings have gone to meet troika imposed budget targets. IMPACT will be watching to ensure that this commitment is honoured,” he said.

Mr Cody said unions had been briefed on the plans by department officials and were assured that staff and service protections in the Haddington Road agreement will be observed as plans for further public service reforms are rolled out. He said continued engagement between unions and management would be necessary as changes were implemented.

The programme, which includes specific plans for each public service sector, highlights potential for more shared services and better property management and says €500 million can be saved over the next three years through more centralised procurement. It foresees more open recruitment and mobility and improved performance management. The document also promises improved training and staff development. “The public service will be more rewarding for, and more supportive of, public servants,” it says.

The progress report on recent reforms outlines how public servants have met massive new demand for services despite a 10% staffing reduction since 2008. The population has risen by almost 350,000 since 2006 and the numbers of hospital day cases has increased by over 90% over the last decade. Some 49,000 more children are being taught in our schools compared to 2008 and over half a million more people are in receipt of medical cards. Meanwhile, the numbers receiving social welfare payments has grown by 18%.

IMPACT is to table a comprehensive list of the issues that provoked industrial action in the agriculture sector following a meeting with Department of Agriculture officials earlier this week. It is expected that this will form the basis of a further meeting next week, which could establish whether the department is prepared to engage on the issues.

The union told management it was not prepared to suspend its relatively low-level industrial action at this stage. Its national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said he had been discouraged by media reports that the department thought the problem centred on access to promotions. “This indicated to us that there was an understanding deficit. We aim to get over that by tabling a written list of issues. Then we’ll see if the department is interested in exploring the solutions, which could also deliver big savings for taxpayers and the farming community,” he said.

The action, by over 600 Department of Agriculture technical staff, started on Monday. Its initial aim is to cause administrative inconvenience to management without impacting on farmers or the food industry. But if there is no resolution it will quickly escalate to include actions that will delay grant payments to farmers and disrupt the export of cattle and other agricultural products. The impact of these stronger forms of action is likely to be felt in late February or early March.

The duties of the staff include inspections of farms, meat factories, dairy processors, marts, mills, laboratories and other facilities. Their role is central to food safety and compliance with EU and Irish regulations on the production, labelling, sale and export certification of agricultural produce including live animals.

IMPACT says the workers have fully cooperated with extensive reforms, including the closure of 42 local offices (down from 58 to 16), which have delivered €30 million in savings. Their dispute centres on management’s subsequent failure to sustain and expand their duties in line with independent reports – commissioned by the Department – which say further substantial savings could be delivered if technical staff took on some of the inspection duties currently allocated to higher paid civil servants and expensive external contractors. The union says management’s failure to implement the reforms costs taxpayers and farming communities millions of euro, while putting technical jobs at risk. It says management has refused meaningful engagement on this and other issues.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the issues could be addressed in ways that save taxpayers millions of euro, while maintaining excellent services to the farming community and agriculture sector. “The agriculture department has effectively collapsed the industrial relations process at a time when agricultural officer duties are diminishing because of rationalisation and reforms. Meanwhile, management persists in transferring their duties to higher paid civil servants and unnecessarily allocating inspection work to expensive external contractors. Both of these practices incur huge costs to taxpayers and the farming community while putting our members’ jobs at risk,” he said.

IMPACT accuses management of shelving an internal review, which shows costs of certain veterinary inspections could be more than halved by allocating the work to agricultural officers. And it says another external review, commissioned by the department and published last August, outlined millions in potential savings that would accrue if technical staff were to undertake post-mortem meat inspections currently done by expensive external contractors. The report, by independent consultants Team BDS, found that this measure alone could deliver savings of €5.3 million each year.

Mr Donnelly said the workers had reluctantly decided to take industrial action as they believe management has left them with no other means of getting their issues highlighted and addressed. He said IMPACT was available for talks if there was serious engagement from management on the issues in dispute.

IMPACT’s Boards and Voluntary Agencies branch is to seek commitments from Dublin local election candidates that they will protect local authority homelessness budgets from further cuts.

The decision to run the campaign follows last week’s budget vote at Dublin City Council, which reversed €6 million in proposed cuts and instead increased funding for homeless and disability services in the city’s 2014 budget. IMPACT had called on Dublin City Council to reconsider the proposed cuts ahead of the vote.

IMPACT official Ashley Connolly said councillors had done the right thing by taking a strong position on the proposed cuts. “This is the first bit of good news for Dublin’s homeless services in several years, as cuts have been the norm since 2008. Redundancies, reduced hours and reduced budgets have put enormous pressure on services throughout that time. This is good news, but we need to keep fighting for homeless budgets to be maintained,” she said.

Ashley said the May local elections provided an opportunity for IMPACT members to seek a commitment from candidates in all four Dublin councils to extend the protection of the homeless services budget beyond 2014.

“IMPACT members need all candidates seeking election in May to understand how important it is to protect these services. The number of homeless people on Dublin streets continues to rise. We will seek a pledge from every candidate to protect the homeless services budget throughout the next local government term,” she said.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions last week told EU parliamentarians that the troika mission to Ireland repeatedly violated core European Union principles of solidarity and social dialogue. ICTU was giving evidence to an inquiry into how troika conducted its missions in Ireland and elsewhere.

Addressing the EU parliamentary team’s hearings in Dublin, ICTU assistant general secretary Sally Anne Kinahan also reiterated the unions’ call for the EU to deliver on its promise to reduce the level of bank debt transferred to the Irish people. Ireland has borne over 42% of the cost of the European bank debt crisis, with every Irish citizen paying €9,000 on average so far. The average per capita cost across 27 member states is less than €200.

Ms Kinahan said solidarity and social dialogue were enshrined as core principles in many EU treaties. Yet they were repeatedly violated and ignored in the actions and operations of the troika.

“Solidarity was absent in the mission’s determination to ensure that the blame for the crisis and the entire burden of adjustment fell on working people who neither caused the crisis nor benefited greatly from the false boom that preceded it. The failure to engage in social dialogue saw a point blank refusal to countenance all but one policy prescription - grinding austerity - despite the abundance of evidence proving it to be counterproductive. There were regular meetings with Congress, but no real dialogue,” she said.

ICTU said it welcomed the EU parliamentary inquiry but said it had arrived at least three years too late. “During the troika years, Ireland was subjected to a painful ideological experiment whose aim was to engineer the shrinking of the state along with the erosion of labour rights and the wider European social model. The troika’s legacy is high unemployment, weakened social provision, frightening levels of emigration and the prospect of a lost generation of youth, along with an entirely unpayable debt, “she said.