Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a sensitive and important issue because the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has been involved in discussions with the trade unions for some time. Deputy Howlin is well aware of the recommendation made by the Labour Court regarding the Garda associations on 3 November 2016. Its consequence was that the Government approved a two-phase approach in regard to securing the future of collective pay agreements. In this case it is the Lansdowne Road agreement, in which the Deputy when he was Minister played an important part, and which is such an important element of collective pay situations in the country.

The first phase was to address the anomalies arising from the recommendations of the Labour Court. The second was to negotiate a successive phase to the Lansdowne Road agreement. The rationale was to restore the structure to the process and to support industrial peace while allowing more difficult issues, such as pension benefits, to be on the table as part of the later negotiations in respect of the Lansdowne Road agreement.

The Government was in a position to save more than this cost. What the Minister negotiated - I am very glad to hear today that it has the support of ICTU - is that agreement has been reached on the measures required to support the continuation of the Lansdowne Road agreement until a successor agreement can be negotiated under phase two. The substance of the deal is an increase in annualised salaries of €1,000 for the period from 1 April to 31 August this year and the Lansdowne Road agreement will kick in subsequent to that. The deal refers specifically to those on annualised salaries up to €65,000 who are parties to the Lansdowne Road agreement and do not stand to benefit from the Labour Court recommendations made on 3 November last, which were issued in respect of the Garda associations. Approximately 250,000 public servants earning below €65,000 will benefit from this approach.

The Revised Estimates for 2017 proposed total gross Vote expenditure of €58.072 billion in line with commitments made in budget 2017 last October. Of this, €53.53 billion of current funding is for the day-to-day delivery of public services, while €4.541 billion is for capital investment. About 31% of current spending or €16.474 billion is allocated for public service pay.

There was a serious matter of perceived presentation of this today, as this being a lump sum payment for all of these public servants earning under €65,000. It is not a lump sum payment but the equivalent of an increase in annualised salaries of €1,000. It applies from 1 April to 31 August this year and the Lansdowne Road agreement kicks in from that point.

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