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

The Deputy well knows that any change in respect of new entrants' pay or those who are at the start of a wage curve has consequences for everyone else. We cannot change wage curves for people who are joining the Civil Service, teaching or any other part of the public service without there being profound knock-on consequences for the entire wage bill. For this reason, the issues of retention and starting salaries must be examined in the context of the overall public service pay bill, which amounts to more than €13 billion. That is what the Public Service Pay Commission is doing. It will produce a report for the Government and the Oireachtas in the second quarter. In the aftermath of the Lansdowne Road agreement, we will begin negotiations, which I hope can be concluded, with unions to determine how we can make progress on these issues in an affordable way.

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