Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for raising this issue. The reduced new entrant pay scales for civil and public servants introduced in 2011 were abolished in 2013 under the Haddington Road agreement, where it was agreed to merge the new pay scales and existing scales, typically by adding the lower two points of the new scale to the existing scale. As such, there are no separate reduced pay scales for civil and public servants.

Under the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018 to 2020, it was agreed to examine the remaining salary scale issues associated with the addition of the extra points for those recruited to entry grades after January 2011. The report, laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in March 2018, estimated the point in time cost of advancing new entrants to the public service two points along their incremental scales. The report estimated a cost of just under €200 million in respect of 60,513 new entrants, an average cost of €3,300 per full-time equivalent.

Following this report, negotiations with the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, took place over 2018 resulting in an agreement on new entrant salary scales being reached in September 2018. Further detail on this will be placed on the record.

For new entrant teachers, the parties to the current agreement, Building Momentum, agreed that in final conclusion to the arrangements put in place in September 2018 as part of the previous agreement, the following measures will be implemented to resolve in full the remaining salary scale issues pertaining to new entrant teachers. New entrant teachers who have been recruited since 1 January 2011, after progressing to point 11 of the teaching salary scale, will, on their next increment date, move to point 13. New entrant teachers, recruited since 1 January 2011, who have already reached point 12 or higher on the teaching salary scale, will, on their next increment date after the commencement of the agreement, move one point further than they would under normal incremental progression. These arrangements are set out in section 4.3 of the agreement.

Furthermore, as the Deputy will be aware, Building Momentum provides for a sectoral bargaining fund, which is the mechanism available to the parties under the present pay agreement framework to make progress on various sectoral pay matters of importance to them.

The arrangements are complex but I believe the issue has been dealt with. The current agreement provides that it is in full and final settlement of that issue of new entrant pay, and all parties have signed up to it. The Deputy and I can go into more detail in our engagement.

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