Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has said the Government can not “bulldoze” its way to fundamental change in the public sector after Central Bank governor Prof Patrick Honohan suggested savings could be achieved by adjusting pay rather than cutting jobs.
Mr Howlin said co-operation from workers and unions was required and that if there were work to rules and resistance the task of public sector transformation would be much more difficult.
"We got remarkable co-operation in the first year. We have much more ambitious targets to achieve in 2012," he said.
Prof Honohan last night said while there could be little or no choice in the amount of Government borrowing, within the parameters of the bailout there was scope for alternative decisions.
"To take just one topical area, Ireland itself chooses to what extent the necessary reduction in the salary cost of public services is achieved by way of reducing numbers (whether through early retirements or otherwise), and to what extent by adjusting some pay scales," he said.
His comments came as it emerged that over 7,700 public servants had applied to retire by the end of February to qualify for their pension and lump sum being based on their salary before pay was cut in 2010.
Responding to Mr Honahan's comments, Mr Howlin said the Government could not "bulldoze 300,000 people into fundamental change".
"If you look internationally there are very few countries that could bring about that transformation and at the same time impose significant additional pay cuts on top of the 14 per cent that has already been imposed on the public service," he said on RTÉ Morning Ireland.
Mr Howlin said that outlining other options as if everything was "doable or feasible" was a "nice academic pursuit but in reality when I make a decision and bring it to Government and Government endorses that has an impact on the quality of service people want".
The difficulties caused by the retirement of civil servants were highlighted yesterday when it emerged that Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby, who has responsibility for the four-year investigation into the former Anglo Irish Bank, would be leaving under the parting scheme. He later agreed to stay on for six months until a successor is appointed.
Mr Howlin said he was unable to guarantee that no area of the public sector would be affected by the retirements but that up to 3,000 critical posts could be backfilled where problems arose.
He said he was conscious some people might look to exploit the situation to advocate their own needs.
"There has to be an understanding that we are in a downsizing mode. The country is spending more than we're earning. We have to make significant cuts. We are downsizing from a peak of 320,000 in 2008 to 282,000 by 2015. That is a significant exit and we're going to have to manage the public service in a different way."