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

On 29 November last, I announced a two-phase approach to securing the future of collective pay agreements. It was intended that the first phase would address anomalies arising from the recent Labour Court recommendations in respect of An Garda Síochána and the second phase would negotiate a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. My priorities for the first phase were to secure the continued implementation of the Lansdowne Road agreement, to maintain the productivity, industrial peace and stability provided by that agreement and to ensure issues of mutual concern to the parties are addressed in a fair and reasonable way and, above all, in a manner that safeguards existing Government expenditure commitments and the broader fiscal position. Under the settlement that was reached last week, and in acknowledgement of the anomaly that has arisen, the Government in its capacity as the public service employer agreed to an increase in annualised salaries of €1,000 for the period from Aprilto August of this year for those on salaries up to €65,000, those who are parties to the Lansdowne Road agreement and those who do not stand to benefit from the Labour Court recommendations issued in respect of the Garda associations.

The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between public servants who have 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 Lansdowne Road agreement. In addition, flexibility provided for within the Lansdowne Road agreement has allowed the Government more recently to address particular sectoral issues such as the restoration of supervision and substitution payments, new entrant payments in the education sector and the restoration of rent allowances to new entrant firefighters. This shows the value of a collective approach. The Deputy will be aware that the Public Service Pay Commission intends to examine evidence on recruitment and retention of identifiable groups and to compare public service remuneration to prevailing private sector or market rates. It will include its findings in its report, which is to be published in the second quarter of this year and will form the basis of the second phase of our negotiations.

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