About Us

The Implementation Body, which was established in July 2010, comprises the independent chair and nominees from Public Service Management and the Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The Body is responsible for overseeing, driving and verifying progress on the implementation of the Public Service Agreement including resolution/interpretation issues when they arise.

P.J. Fitzpatrick is the former chief executive of the Irish Courts Service from 1999 until the end of 2009. He was the first person to hold this position and implemented a major programme of change and modernisation, which transformed courts and courts administration nationwide. He was previously chief executive of the Eastern Regional Health Board, the largest health authority in Ireland at that time. Prior to joining the Courts Service Mr. Fitzpatrick was Chief Executive of the Eastern Regional Health Board, then the largest health authority in Ireland. He was until recently a non executive director of the Health Service Executive.   Earlier this year he acted as interim Financial Services Ombudsman. He holds an MSc in Management from Trinity College Dublin and is a member of the Institute of Directors Ireland.

The Implementation Body is supported by a Secretariat provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It can be contacted here. The Secretariat can respond to queries regarding the overall Agreement, however, queries regarding specific items contained in the Action Plans of particular sectors or public service bodies should be directly made to the relevant sector or body.

Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General/Ms. Deirdre Hanlon, Assistant Secretary, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform
Mr. Michael Errity, Assistant Secretary, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform
Ms. Oonagh Buckley, Principal Officer, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform
Mr. Paul Reid, Programme Director, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform

Mr. Shay Cody, General Secretary, IMPACT
Mr. Tom Geraghty, General Secretary, PSEU
Ms. Sheila Nunan, General Secretary, INTO
Ms. Patricia King, Vice-President, SIPTU

Sectoral Bodies have also been established under the Implementation Body to facilitate managements and unions in these sectors to progress the speedy implementation of sectoral reforms.  They are as follows:

Health Sectoral Implementation BodyChairman: Mr. Pat Harvey
Education Sector Implementation Body Chairman: Mr. David O’Callaghan
Local Government Sector Implementation Body Chairman: Mr. Dan Murphy
Prison Service Implementation Body Chairman: Mr. Michael McLoone
State Agency Sector Implementation BodyChairman: Mr. John White
Civil Service Sector Implementation BodyChairman: Ms. Anna Perry

In addition, groups have been put in place to oversee the implementation of the Agreement in the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. The Chair of the Implementation Body chairs both of these groups