Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said earlier that the submission was made in September. Will he confirm the date in September on which the Public Service Pay Commission received or was sent the submission? The commission is due to report in autumn. As this is the last month of autumn, meeting that deadline will be an onerous task. Can the Minister of State confirm that the report from the Public Service Pay Commission will not be delayed or does he expect it to be delayed as a result of the late receipt by the commission of the joint submission from the Defence Forces authorities and the Department? We have often been told we should await the outcome of the Public Service Pay Commission's deliberations before we consider issues of pay and allowances, which will help to deal with the chaos in the Defence Forces and the failure to retain highly skilled personnel who are leaving in droves each year. My question is not on the content of the commission's report.

11 o’clock

Why was there a delay? It has been received but given how late the submission was received, will the Public Service Pay Commission seek additional time to tackle some of the matters or comment on the submission received? PDFORRA and RACO, two of the representative organisations, received notification in February that they had six weeks in which to prepare their submissions. They did so but have had to wait until last month before the State moved at all.

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