Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to address this issue on behalf of my constituency colleague. Like the Deputy, I pay tribute to the incredible work our fire services undertake. The pay and conditions for all public servants, including those working in the fire services and the National Ambulance Service, are set out as part of the Building Momentum public service agreement. The Building Momentum agreement provided the agreed approach to public service pay and conditions for the period 2021 to 2022. It was further extended for 2023 following a review in acknowledgement of the changes to the underlying assumptions with regard to inflation. The pay measures introduced through Building Momentum and its extension amount to total headline adjustments of 9.5% over the lifetime of the agreement. In addition, the extended agreement is weighted especially towards those at lower incomes in light of the inflation challenge. That is why taken together, the Building Momentum agreement and its extension amount to headline increases of approximately 12.5% for the lowest-paid public servants.

In addition to the general pay rounds, all public servants covered by Building Momentum, including members of the fire services and the National Ambulance Service, have access to a new sectoral bargaining process to deal with outstanding adjudications, commitments, recommendations, awards and claims. Local sectoral management and the relevant sectoral union representative associations were provided with a sectoral bargaining fund to be used to resolve grade or sector-based pay claims and outstanding adjudications and awards or to be used as a sectoral general pay round up to the value of the fund. The equivalent of a 1% increase in annualised basic salaries was allocated to the sectoral bargaining fund for this purpose.

Where issues are not resolved at sectoral negotiations, parties have access to the established dispute resolution procedures. In the first instance, parties are expected to seek to resolve disputes at a local level to the maximum extent possible through regular and proactive engagement as issues arise. If this process does not resolve the matter, parties have recourse to the formal dispute resolution mechanisms, including the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission. Our industrial relations machinery has served us very well over the years. That is why | believe it is everybody’s best interests that parties continue to work within these institutions to resolve disputes, rather than resorting to industrial action.

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