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

I thank the Deputy very much for raising that point. It is a principle that we embedded in the current agreement, Building Momentum, that for each general round increase, a floor was set so that the benefit should be at least €500, even though it was to be 1% overall. If that 1% resulted in less than €500 for individual workers, then they would be given €500 in the general round. The percentage increase for them was greater than for workers generally under the public service pay agreement. That is a principle that we adopted in the current agreement and will again be considered in the context of the current negotiations. Some of the other measures in the existing agreement do favour lower- and middle-income workers in particular in terms of overtime rates, twilight payments and so on. Those in trades and with technical skills in particular benefited more under the existing agreement than people on higher flat salaries, for example.

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