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

The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced by the then Government in January 2011 as part of the national recovery plan in order to reduce the public service pay bill. Terms and conditions of employment for public servants are also set by reference to legislation, including the FEMPI Acts, and through negotiation and agreement under collective agreements such as the Haddington Road and Lansdowne Road agreements.

The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between those public servants who entered public service employment since 2011 and those who entered before that date was addressed with the relevant union interests under the provisions of the Haddington Road agreement. Any further consideration of remuneration adjustment for any group of public servants, including issues relating to more recently recruited public servants, falls to be examined within the provisions of the Lansdowne Road agreement. The agreement is flexible enough to address particular sectoral issues such as the restoration of supervision and substitution payments and new entrant payments in the education sector and the restoration of rent allowances for new entrant firefighters and members of An Garda Síochána.

On the unwinding of FEMPI legislation measures for those earning under €65,000, the Deputy will be aware, I hope, that the application of the FEMPI legislaiton pay reductions was extremely progressive, with pay reductions ranging from 5% at lower pay levels to 29% at higher pay levels. Again, the measures applied under the phased unwinding of the FEMPI legislation reductions through the Lansdowne Road agreemtn were also progressive. It provided the greatest benefit at the fastest pace for lower paid public servants. For example, it exclusively targeted those earning under €65,000 for increases in pay, ranging from €1,500 for those earning €20,000 to €1,000 for those earning €60,000. It utilised increases in the exemption threshold of the pension related deduction to maximise the benefit to low-paid workers. All statutory deductions, other than tax, are made before the pension related deduction is taken from salary; therefore, a reduction of an amount in pension related deduction will benefit the employee to that amount, less PAYE. For a person on the 20% tax rate, a €100 reduction in pension related deduction gives a benefit of €80.

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