The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has warned that the Government is facing stark policy choices - as all the "low hanging fruit" which could be cut had long disappeared.
Speaking at an Institute of Public Administration conference in Dublin, Brendan Howlin said that without accelerated major reform, the public service simply could not function.
Mr Howlin reiterated the Government's support for the Croke Park Agreement, but warned that stark choices lay ahead.
He said that "by and large" frontline services were being maintained. He said industrial peace was essential, but wouldn't say whether the current nurses industrial action constituted a breach of Croke Park.
He warned that ongoing reform would be painful - but everyone - particularly managers - must accelerate the process.
However the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, John McGuinness, described the Croke Park Agreement as a fiction which the country could not afford.
John McGuinness described the relationship between ministers and senior public service officials as a "Faustian pact".
He said ministers had allowed themselves to become the glove puppets of senior civil servants - and generally acting like press officers for their departments.
