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

As part of the negotiations last year leading to the public service stability agreement all parties acknowledged "issues of concern relating to the increased length of salary scale for post 2011” new entrants and committed to examining these issues within 12 months of the commencement of the agreement.

In general the issues of concern relate to the insertion of two lower salary points at the bottom of the existing salary scales. We started examining these issues with the parties as soon as the agreement was ratified last October. At that point we agreed with staff representatives that a data gathering and analysis exercise to determine the individuals and grades effected was a necessary first step in examining the issue.

Subsequent to that an amendment to section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act required me to submit a report on these matters within three months, which I did last week. The report was laid before the Oireachtas. It shows there has been strong recruitment since 2011 to the estimated 237 recruitment grades across the public service, with more than 60,500 new entrants hired or just under one fifth of the public service. This includes more than 16,000 teachers, 5,000 special needs assistants and almost 10,000 nurses. In reality, that figure would be even higher as the numbers who joined and left the entry grades during the past seven years are excluded.

Importantly, it also quantifies the cost of a two-point adjustment as approximately €200 million and the potential benefit to the individual as €3,301 on average. It should be noted that these costs are not included in the €887 million ring-fenced for the implementation of the public service stability agreement.

It is intended that the report will provide the evidence base for further engagement over the coming months between the parties to explore how the matter can be addressed.

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