Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No provision was made in budget 2017 for additional pay restoration to public servants, beyond the commitments already entered into under the Lansdowne Road agreement. Budget 2017 allocated €290 million for the implementation of the agreement. An additional €10 million was allocated to the Department of Education and Skills for the implementation of a revised salary scale for new-entrant teachers, as recently agreed with teaching unions through the mechanism of the Lansdowne Road agreement.

However, the public service pay bill is a function of both pay rates and numbers and, in response to the critical need to support front-line service delivery, the estimate for gross pay in 2017 in the budget is €16.3 billion, which is €660 million more than the 2016 revised allocation of €15.7 billion. This includes the provision made for the implementation of the Lansdowne Road agreement in 2017 and provision for the appointment of some 6,100 additional staff in 2017.

As our time is limited, I will give way to Deputy Smith so that she has time to put her supplementary questions.

See this speech in context