Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, we are not in a position where we can say that management says its staff needs a pay rise therefore we simply take that out of the national pay agreements and give them the pay rise. The Deputy's party is signed up to it as is Government and these kind of issues are public sector pay issues, which need to form part of broader discussions in terms of public sector pay. The Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, are now looking at the next round of that but it would not be the case normally that simply because a management team says in good faith that it recommends a pay rise for its workers, that this can simply be lifted out of the national pay agreements. It is something the Department is engaged in. I appreciate the Deputy signalling that it is in the context of a very significant increase in funding, capacity and work coming from our excellent ambulance services.

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