The head of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) has said he is hopeful negotiations on the Croke Park deal are coming an end. Kieran Mulvey added that some progress has been made on a new public sector pay deal.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has said a new set of proposals has been reached between public sector unions and the Government on the Croke Park II agreement.
Mr. Mulvey will brief the Minister this morning before a full report goes to Cabinet. Talks continued through the night at the LRC with health sector and teachers' unions.
Minister Brendan Howlin says a new document is being distributed to all unions this morning and some unions will have to ballot their members again.
Three unions - the INTO, the TUI and the ASTI have all threatened strike action if the government tries to impose pay cuts without agreement.
Minister Howlin says he hopes the figure for savings this year will be as close to €300 million as possible.
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Third-level teachers want genuine deal
Yesterday third-level teaching unions said they will not accept pay cuts or compulsory redundancies as part of any new public sector pay deal. Last week the INTO and the Teachers Union of Ireland agreed to try to reach a negotiated agreement over the proposals which include pay cuts, increment freezes and longer working weeks.
Unions that made progress with LRC Chairman Kieran Mulvey last week - including the gardaí and nurses - are to put the new proposals to their members.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) says its members have already rejected job and pay cuts and will not accept them as part of any new proposals.
IFUT General-Secretary is Mike Jennings. He says any new deal must be considerably different to Croke Park 2:
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Meanwhile the Junior Finance Minister again raised the prospect of less-than-expected savings in the public sector this year. Yesterday Brian Hayes said the government may only save €250 million this year which is significantly less than the previously stated figure of €300 million.
Minister Hayes says the government remains committed to saving €1 billion in the public sector by 2015. But they are now considering other ways of doing that, in the latest round of Croke Park 2 talks.
