The new Croke Park deal received a boost this evening after SIPTU urged its 62,000 members to stick with the collective agreement.

The new proposals will deliver savings of up to €1bn in the public sector but frontline workers say the cuts go too deep and will cost them 11.5% of their pay.

SIPTU's national executive decided that it wouldn't oppose the deal during a meeting in Dublin today.

In a statement issued after today's meeting, the union said the proposals were the result of “unprecedentedly difficult negotiations” and that it was in the best interests of members to be within the agreement.

The statement goes on to say:

"Ultimately, the real danger is that public service workers could end up with the worst of both worlds, ie legislated pay cuts on one hand and no agreement on the other.

"Then workers would suffer the cuts but they would have no protection against compulsory redundancy, redeployment or outsourcing.

"This in turn would open the way for one group after the other to be isolated and attacked, potentially forfeiting far more than what is envisaged in the LRC proposals".

The Croke Park deal will now be put to SIPTU members in the coming weeks and the outcome will be decided by a majority vote.