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

I thank the Deputy for the question. I look forward to working with him during what I am sure will be a very exciting period in the run-up to many things in the coming months.

The Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020, provided that an examination of remaining salary scale issues in respect of those recruited after January 2011 at entry grades would be undertaken within 12 months of the commencement of the agreement. Additionally, as the Deputy is aware, the Government accepted an amendment to section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, that within three months of the passing of the Act, I would prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the cost of and a plan to deal with pay equalisation for new entrants to the public service. This was a significant body of work delivered through the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service, which collected, collated and examined the data, and provided detailed point-in-time costs associated with the measure.

I submitted a report to the Oireachtas on 16 March. It showed that there has been strong recruitment since 2011 to the 237 recruitment grades across the public service, with more than 60,500 new entrants hired, representing 19% of the public service. This includes more than 16,000 teachers, nearly 5,000 special needs assistants and almost 10,000 nurses.

Graduates entering the public service today do so on a competitive salary. For example, a teacher recruited in 2018 will start on just under €36,000. This will rise under the current public service stability agreement to nearly €38,000 by 2020. Across the labour market as a whole, the average starting salary for graduates is €28,554, with 40% earning less than €25,000.

Discussions on this issue with public service trade unions and representative associations commenced in October, with a further meeting on 27 April. Further engagement is being arranged for early June as the parties continue to work through the various aspects of this issue.

See this speech in context