Public sector employees in the Finn Valley could be hit with pay cuts, pension reductions or compulsory redundancies if the Government implements the “An Bord Snip Nua” report which was published at lunchtime today (Thursday).
The report is also expected to call for social welfare payments to be cut which would hit many families across the Finn Valley given the current levels of unemployment in the area. The report was compiled by a panel of experts called the Special Group on Public Service Numbers.” They were charged with finding ways to make cuts in the public service and identified ways of saving the state €5bn.
Impact, Ireland’s largest public service union, has threatened to respond with “painful” industrial action if the government introduces public service pay cuts, pension reductions or redundancies. The ESRI has also called for pay cuts in the public sector. The union said that public service workers should not be made to be the scapegoats for the state of the country’s finances.
It has been speculated that the report also calls for major local authorities to be merged and for the allowances of state employees to be cut. There has been concern that it could call for 20,000 jobs to be axed in the public service.