Cowen Claims No Agreement Reached On Public Sector Pay

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has told the Dáil no "basis for agreement" has been reached over the ongoing talks with public sector unions.

Speaking this morning, Mr Cowen said proposals put forward by public sector unions on reducing the pay and pensions bill by €1.3bn next year did not constitute a agreeable package in their present form.

The talks with union representatives continue at Government Buildings today as union leaders and government officials try to strike a deal over the savings that need to be made in the public purse in the upcoming Budget.

So far the talks have seen the deferral of tomorrow's threatened industrial action. It is believed one possible plan being discussed is for all public service workers to take 12 days annual unpaid leave next year, which could provide the basis for the savings currently sought.

As the talks rage on, Fine Gael's Finance spokesman Richard Bruton said the government had bottled it on the issue of public sector reform and described the outline pay deal as "the worst of all possible worlds".

“They’ve bottled it. They had a chance to deliver real change and cost reductions in the public sector and they’ve blown it. This deal, if it turns out along the lines currently being described, represents the worst of all worlds," Mr Bruton said.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party have welcomed the deferral of the strike action, with the party's leader Eamon Gilmore saying he hoped the talks could lead to a successful conclusion.

Mr Gilmore said: "I welcome the announcement this evening that sufficient progress had been made at the talks between the government and the public service unions to allow Thursday’s planned strike to be deferred.

"For more than a month now I had been pressing for the opening of talks between the government and the unions with a view to reaching a negotiated settlement on steps to reduce the overall public sector wage bill without cutting basic pay."

(DW/KMcA)