Minister Leo Varadkar has said any successor to the Croke Park Agreement must include a provision for compulsory redundancies in the public service.
The Transport Minister said the deal would expire at the end of next year, and it was now time to begin the conversation about what was needed from any new one.
Mr Varadkar also added that the current agreement made it virtually impossible to squeeze out people who are not performing - but said high performers should have promotional opportunities in any new agreement.
However, Minister for Expenditure & Reform Brendan Howlin said that as long as Croke Park continued to deliver pay bill savings and reforms, there would be no pay cuts or compulsory redundancies.
Minister of State Joe Costello described Mr Varadkar's comments as “puzzling and inappropriate”.
“It’s the Programme for Government that we must abide by and it makes it quite clear that as long as we adhere to the targets, then there should be no compulsory redundancies, so it’s inappropriate for a minister to suggest that there should be.”
A spokesman for Minister Varadkar said tonight that he had been referring to a situation post the Croke Park Agreement.
Unions, meanwhile, are furious over Mr Varadkar's comments.
Public Service Executive Union General Secretary Tom Geraghty rejected the claims as ''mad''.
He said Mr Varadkar seemed to be confusing getting rid of non-performers with compulsory redundancies.
Civil Public and Services Union General Secretary Eoin Ronayne said talk of compulsory redundancies in the public service is like "a red rag to a bull" for trade unions.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Ronayne said it was very unhelpful for the minister to make the comments.
He said the policy of redeployment was working and that it would not make economic sense to force more people to join the dole queues.
Under the Croke Park Agreement, Government employees face no compulsory redundancies or pay cuts before 2014 provided they co-operate with reform.
Yesterday, it emerged that the Croke Park Agreement had resulted in savings of €1.5bn over the last two years.
