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

The requisite funding in respect of the recent Government decision for an additional payment to public servants with annualised salaries of up to €65,000, as provided for under section 6 of the Lansdowne Road agreement, will be met from available public resources, taking into account the scope for the reallocation of expenditure while ensuring that core public services are not adversely affected. Regarding the separate Labour Relations Commission decision in favour of increased Garda remuneration, the Government agreed in December to fund half of the estimated €50 million cost of this recommendation, with the balance to be met from savings within the Department of Justice and Equality group of Votes to be achieved during this year. The additional funding of €25 million from the Exchequer was provided in the Revised Estimates Volume, which was published before Christmas.

The extent to which Departments are in a position to meet the additional cost of the broader recommendation with unions will only be determined later in the year. The Government will monitor the position closely and consider how best to meet any additional funding requirements where the need arises. However, given that the additional cost represents 0.2% of total gross voted current expenditure, most Departments should be accordingly in a position to absorb the additional costs arising from this decision. As reported in the end-December Exchequer returns, savings of €168 million were achieved in 2016, which is less than the sum of money in consideration for this year.

It is important to note that this is effectively a once-off additional payment for 2017; it is not a recurring payment. This is because the payment will be replaced by the already scheduled and budgeted payment for public servants on similar terms of €1,000 to annualised salaries up to €65,000 from 1 September 2017. The carry-over costs into 2018 of this payment have therefore already been provided for in respect of the Lansdowne Road agreement for 2018.

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