[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...breaking43.htm

FG outlines public pay proposals
ELAINE EDWARDS

Fine Gael has proposed a €1.7 billion cut in the public sector pay bill, through a combination of pay cuts and 10,000 redundancies.

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Fine Gael said there was “huge scope” to reduce or eliminate ineffective programmes or agencies that are not delivering for the taxpayer and it envisaged savings of about €1.1 billion in this area.

This would be achieved through €386 million in cuts within the “big bureaucracies” such as the HSE, Fás and CIE, through the elimination or merging 150 quangos (€88 million); through cutting payments of professionals and third party procurement ( €431 million) and through €199 million in programme reductions outlined in the McCarthy report on public service spending.

“Wasteful spending on programmes and bodies that don’t deliver are the scourge of the taxpayer. It was unacceptable when our finances were in a healthy condition, it is bordering on criminal to waste such money when vital frontline services are under threat,” said Fine Gael finance spokesman and deputy leader Richard Bruton.

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