Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The answer to the Deputy's last question is "Yes". They will be provided with funding to meet the cost of pay restoration to ensure it will not impact on the delivery of services. I accept that many section 39 organisations applied pay cuts. I also accept, as I think the Deputy does, that section 39 employees are not State employees. Therefore, it is different and the position varies from organisation to organisation. In the WRC process it was found that there were different levels and that cuts had been applied in different ways and that there had been restoration for some but not for others. It was important to analyse the issue correctly and I thank the unions for working with us in that regard.

For those employed by the 50 organisations, the following will apply. Pay restoration will commence, with an annual pay increase of up to €1,000, in April 2019; 50% of the outstanding sum due will be paid on 1 October 2020, with the remaining 50% to be paid on 1 October 2021. That is the agreement. Based on the information available to me, it appears that almost 90% of those staff who suffered a pay cut will, on average, have 75% restored in 2019. The payments are being made on the basis of the following criteria. First, it is pay restoration, not pay progression; second, the intention is to restore pay reductions made and no more; and, third, only staff in the 50 organisations are eligible. We will have to do a further body of work in 2019 on the additional organisations.

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