Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 4 together.

Similar to other sectors in the public service, the pay of Permanent Defence Force personnel was reduced as one of the measures to assist in stabilising national finances during the financial crisis. Improvements in the economy have provided an opportunity to progress the unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, legislation, which imposed pay cuts across the public service.

In 2016, the Government established the Public Service Pay Commission to provide objective advice to the Government on public service pay policy. Following the publication of the Public Service Pay Commission's report in May 2017, the Government initiated negotiations on an extension to the Lansdowne Road agreement. The Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020, which was accepted by members of the Permanent Defence Force through their representative associations, provides for increases in pay ranging from 6.2% to 7.4% over the lifetime of the agreement. By the end of the current agreement, the pay scales of all public servants, including members of the Defence Forces, earning less than €70,000 per annum, will be restored to pre-FEMPI levels.

In accordance with the agreement, the Government tasked the Public Service Pay Commission with conducting a comprehensive examination and analysis of underlying difficulties in recruitment and retention in those sectors and employment streams identified in the commission's report of May 2017. This includes the defence sector. To assist the commission with its analysis, the Department of Defence was requested to provide specific data. A joint civil and military team prepared this material. The commission's work is ongoing. The Department of Defence continues to engage with the Public Service Pay Commission and is responding to queries and requests for further information from the commission as they arise and to any issue that may arise as all of the data submitted are examined.

The Public Service Pay Commission issued an invitation to representatives of departmental and Defence Forces management to follow up on defence material submitted, and a meeting was held on 6 March. The Secretary General of the Department of Defence, the Chief of Staff, civil and military personnel from the Department of Defence, senior officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and other military people attended the meeting. The Government will give due consideration to the findings and recommendations that may arise from the work of the commission. I am happy to say military management and the Department had an opportunity to address the Public Service Pay Commission and give their side on issues and questions that the commission had and to ask any questions they had.

See this speech in context