The National Recovery Plan, published on 24 November, 2010 is the basis for sustaining recovery.  Measures set out in the Plan are a roadmap to return our economy to sustainable growth.  To meet the Government’s targets in the National Recovery Plan, the cost of delivering public services must fall further, through planned reductions in the number of public servants and through greater efficiencies in the way public services are delivered.   The Public Service Agreement provides a means of radically transforming the Public Service, especially through greater flexibility, redeployment, changed work practices and overall reductions in numbers. 

The National Recovery Plan was prepared on the basis that the Public Service Agreement will make possible the delivery of tangible savings.  The National Recovery Plan makes clear that the commitments entered into by the Government under the Public Service Agreement are dependent on savings being delivered through its comprehensive implementation. 

The National Recovery Plan states that the targets it set ‘for a reduction in public service staff levels together with the full implementation of the Croke Park Agreement will create a more efficient and effective public service, a crucial component of competitiveness that will deliver better services to the citizens at a lower cost.’